Nine Arch Viaduct @ Gotuwala, Sri Lanka.

The 9 Arch viaduct is situated 2 km away from Ella town along "Passara" road between "Ella" and "Demodara" Railway Stations in a small village at Gotuwala. Therefore the local people refer to the Bridge as the Gotuwala viaduct or the Nine skies (Ahas Namaye Palama in Sinhalese language). Built by the British in the early 20th century, the Nine Arcs bridge is a engineering marvels of the day. This name is used since the bridge contains of 9 arches.  This bridge is 300 feet long and 25 feet wide. Located almost 3100 feet above the sea level. The bridge connects with two high lands and has been made of large cubic stones. This massive bridge is built entirely of solid rocks, bricks and cement without using a single piece of steel. The bridge was finally commissioned in 1921. One and only railway station trains travels same horizontal level in place is Demodara Railway station. There is a popular story to say that when construction work was commenced on the bridge, the World War 1 broke out and the steel consignment assigned for this site was seized and was used for war related projects. When the work came to a standstill the Sri Lankan came forward and build the bridge with solid stone bricks and cement without steel. Several Trains between Colombo/Kandy – Badualla and back  pass over the bridge on a single day. This is train No 9 between Badulla and Colombo.

Photo credit: Nick Lasure, Boulder, Colorado.