Description

The Bhutan Khuru Kuenphen Bridge Project is located in Khuruthang, Punakha, spanning the Punatsangchhu River. It connects Khuruthang with the Bajo Secondary National Highway and benefits five Gewogs in Punakha.

The bridge has an overall length of 100 m with a span arrangement of 50+50 m. It is a modern two-lane concrete bridge constructed by the cantilever traveller method. Designed to IRC 70R loading class (70 tonnes), the bridge is equipped with pedestrian footpaths on both sides and street lighting. Adopting a higher freeboard design, its deck is elevated above the flood level, enabling resistance against natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes. With a total budget of 250 million Ngultrum (Nu 250M), the project took more than three years to complete and was officially inaugurated and opened to traffic in March 2026.

 Bhutan Khuru Kuenphen Bridge Project 

Construction Challenges

Located in a Himalayan river valley, the project faced multiple construction challenges:

(1) The steep valley terrain and rising river water levels during monsoon seasons made it impossible to erect cross-river falsework; conventional full framing schemes were not feasible.

(2) Narrow mountain roads restricted transportation of large monolithic equipment, so construction plant had to be split into separate components for haulage to site.

(3) The bridge had stringent requirements for flood clearance and seismic performance, demanding high standards of alignment and structural precision during cast-in-place cantilever construction.

(4) High-altitude valley working over water imposed strict requirements on equipment stability, protection systems, environmentally friendly construction and site housekeeping.

Boyoun Customized Solution

For the mountain-valley working conditions of this project, Boyoun Heavy Industry supplied custom modular cantilever travellers as the core equipment for segmental cast-in-place cantilever construction:

(1) Falsework-free cantilever casting: The traveller advances autonomously on completed girder segments without erecting falsework over the river, eliminating the major risk of falsework collapse caused by flood surges and making it suitable for valley cantilever construction.

(2) Modular split design: The cantilever traveller is divided into lightweight components to suit transportation on Bhutan's narrow mountain roads, enabling easy assembly and disassembly on site.

(3) High structural stability + fully enclosed safety platform: The traveller features adequate overall rigidity to precisely control girder alignment. Its enclosed working platform meets international safety specifications for high-altitude operations overseas.

(4) Compliance with high-standard engineering quality: It meets the cast-in-place construction accuracy requirements for IRC 70R heavy-load bridges and guarantees the long-term flood and earthquake resistance performance of the structure.

With the stable and reliable performance of Boyoun's cantilever travellers, the project successfully overcame technical difficulties of cantilever construction in high mountain valleys and completed the main bridge works with high quality. After opening, the Khuru Kuenphen Bridge put an end to chronic congestion and flood hazards of the old Bailey bridge, delivering an all-weather, safe and reliable river-crossing corridor. It has become a landmark livelihood infrastructure project in Punakha, Bhutan.

Boyoun Heavy Industry continues to serve global road & bridge projects under complex working conditions, offering custom design, fabrication and full-cycle technical services for cantilever travellers and bridge steel formwork, supporting the delivery of infrastructure projects worldwide.

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