Present view of old Kota Bridge alongside the wider new Kota Bridge
The Klang Kota Bridge was erected in June 1957 to replace two existing pontoon Bailey bridges namely the Madras and Sydney Bridges built by the British Army in 1945 . It was the first double-decker bridge built in the country measuring 1,500 ft long , 22 ft wide and 40 ft above water . The bridge was constructed by Dorman Long Company while the piling works were carried out by Gammon ( Malaysia ) at the cost of RM7 million ; considered a huge sum then . The double-decker bridge was built using steel girders , with the upper deck for heavy vehicles ’ use and the lower deck for cyclists , trishaws , other light traffic and pedestrians .
The construction of the bridge was difficult due to the soft ground condition of the river bed which required deep piling works . There was once an incident when workers suddenly stopped works due to the discovery of a headless body , leading to rumours that major construction works require a human head to be buried at the foundation for the structure to be stable . JKR as the implementing agency took great effort to dispel the unfounded rumours .
The bridge was officially opened on June 24 , 1959 by the Sultan of Selangor who named it as Kota Bridge due to its close proximity to Istana Bukit Kota , the present site of Majlis Perbandaran Klang ( MPK ). The Kota Bridge was closed to traffic in 1992 when a wider new Kota Bridge was built adjacent to it . The old Kota Bridge was handed over by JKR to MPK as a historical landmark and heritage for Klang town . MPK converted the upper deck to house stalls with floor tiles and landscape and retained the lower deck for its original use by motorcycles , bicycles and pedestrians only . However , the stalls at the upper deck proved unpopular and were later removed leaving behind the tiled floor and flower boxes . The lower deck is also used to
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