With 143 piers, spanning 2 km between the mainland and the island, it is the second longest sea bridge in India, the Pambam Rail Bridge. Come February, the Pamban bridge, commissioned in 1914, will turn 100 years.Efforts were taken for the construction of the bridge as early as the 1870s with the British administration planning to expand trade connectivity to Sri Lanka, then Ceylon. However, the construction of the rail bridge commenced only by 1911 and it was commissioned on February 24, 1914. German engineer Scherzer designed the central part of the bridge that opens up to allow ferry movement. On an average, 10 to 15 boats and small ships pass beneath the bridge every month.
