The Brăila Bridge () is a road

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

over the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

river, between

Brăila Brăila (, also , ) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County. The Sud-Est (development region), ''Sud-Est'' Regional Development Agency is located in Brăila. According to the 2021 Romanian ...

, a major city in eastern Romania, and the opposite bank of the river in

Tulcea County Tulcea County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in the historical region Dobruja, with the capital city at Tulcea. It includes in its northeast corner the large and thinly-populated estuary of the Danube. Demographics In 2021, Tulcea Coun ...

, on the DN2S national road and

European route E87 European route E 87 is part of the United Nations international E-road network. It is an important north–south road on the coast of Black Sea, running from Odesa (Ukraine), Tulcea (Romania), Constanţa (Romania), Varna (Bulgaria), Burga ...

. It is the first bridge over the maritime Danube sector and the fourth bridge over the Romanian section of the river. At nearly 2 km in length, it is the largest bridge over the Danube, and the third longest suspension bridge in the European Union. The bridge improves road traffic accessibility of the Galați-Brăila area to

Constanța Constanța (, , ) is a city in the Dobruja Historical regions of Romania, historical region of Romania. A port city, it is the capital of Constanța County and the country's Cities in Romania, fourth largest city and principal port on the Black ...

and

Tulcea Tulcea (; also known by #Names, alternative names) is a city in Northern Dobruja, Romania. It is the administrative center of Tulcea County, and had a population of 65,624 . One village, Tudor Vladimirescu, is administered by the city. It is one ...

, and connections of the

Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...

and

Muntenia Muntenia (, also known in English as Greater Wallachia) is a historical region of Romania, part of Wallachia (also, sometimes considered Wallachia proper, as ''Muntenia'', ''Țara Românească'', and the rarely used ''Valahia'' are synonyms in Ro ...

regions with

Dobruja Dobruja or Dobrudja (; or ''Dobrudža''; , or ; ; Dobrujan Tatar: ''Tomrîğa''; Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and ) is a Geography, geographical and historical region in Southeastern Europe that has been divided since the 19th century betw ...

. The

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

co-funded the project with €363 million from Cohesion Policy funds.

Construction

First studies for a bridge in the

Lower Danube The Danube ( ; see also other names) is the second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest south into the Black Sea. A large and historically important r ...

region were done in 1986, but the first prefeasibility study was conducted in 1996. The final feasibility study was finished in 2016 by and Pegaso Ingegneria. In 2017, the bridge project was awarded to the

Astaldi Astaldi S.p.A. is an Italian multinational major construction company based in Rome. The group is active in the fields of civil engineering, hydraulic engineering, electromechanical engineering and transportation. Significant subsidiaries incl ...

(now

Webuild Webuild S.p.A. (previously Salini Impregilo S.p.A.; ) is an Italian industrial group specialising in construction and civil engineering. The company was formally founded in 2014 as the result of the merger by incorporation of Salini into Impregi ...

) and IHI Infrastructure Systems association for an estimated cost of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

434 million, and the construction works started in December 2018. In May 2021, the construction of the two main pillars had finished, and preparations had been started to deploy the first cables across the bridge. On 20 August 2021, it was reported that the construction of the bridge is on schedule and that half of the bridge was already done. The first of the 86 suspended segments of the roadway were installed in spring 2022, with the last one on 28 June 2022. The bridge was opened on 6 July 2023.

Specifications

The project consists of the construction of a suspension bridge of length with a main span, and two side spans of long on the Brăila bank of the river and long on the Tulcea bank of the river, two access viaducts of length on both sides (which bring the total length of the bridge to ), and a connecting road with a total length of approximately .Podul suspendat peste Dunare de la Braila – un proiect asteptat de peste 20 de ani

References

External links

Presentation Memo: Suspended bridge suspended over the Danube in the Brăila area
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brăila Bridge Proposed roads in Romania Bridges in Romania Bridges over the Danube Buildings and structures in Brăila County Buildings and structures in Tulcea County Brăila Suspension bridges Road bridges

Construction

Specifications

See also

References

External links