Liberty Bridge () is a four-lane road bridge over

Sava River The Sava, is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. From its source in Slovenia it flows through Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally reaches Serbia, fee ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. The Većeslav Holjevac Avenue crosses over it, connecting

Trnje Trnje () is a district in the City of Zagreb, Croatia. According to the 2011 census, the district had 42,282 residents. It is located in the central part of the city, south of Donji grad across the railway ( Zagreb Main Station), east of Trešn ...

with

Novi Zagreb Novi Zagreb () is the part of the city of Zagreb located south of the Sava, Sava river. Novi Zagreb forms a distinct whole because it is separated from the northern part of the city both by the river and by the levees around Sava. At the same time ...

in the central part of the city. It's one of 8 bridges of Zagreb. Most slobode is one of the most important, busiest and oldest bridges in Zagreb over the Sava River. It is also popularly called the “Middle Zagreb Bridge”. As it is located in the Trnje district, it is sometimes called the “Trnje Bridge”. The bridge is located between Hrvatske bratske zajednice Street and

Slavonska Avenue Slavonska Avenue () is a limited-access avenue in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the longest street in Zagreb, being long. It mostly has a speed limit, although the speed is limited to on a short section near the Ivanja Reka interchange with the Zagr ...

to the north and Većeslav Holjevac Avenue to the south.

History

The two-lane Sava Bridge (today's Pedestrian Bridge) quickly became a traffic junction after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Its capacity was insufficient for the increasing traffic needs, and its location became too far for the daily commute of the residents of Novi Zagreb to the Center. Because of all this, the City Administration began the construction of a new bridge and a new central - southern entrance to Zagreb. The bridge was opened on September 3, 1959 and it soon became the central bridge in Zagreb and an important communication link between

and the rest of the city. Before that, the Sava Bridge existed (which was opened in 1938), but it was located to the west, so traveling from Novi Zagreb to the center required a detour. The designer of the Freedom Bridge was

Krunoslav Tonković Krunoslav and its contraction Kruno is a Croatian male given name. Notable people with this name include: * Krunoslav Babić (1875–1953), Croatian zoologist * Krunoslav Draganović (1903–1983), Bosnian Croat priest and Ustaše functionary * K ...

, whose designs had been used to build the Jankomir Bridge a year earlier. About 1,600 tons of

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

were used for the bridge. The bridge structure has the shape of a shallow

arch An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...

. Parts of the bridge are made of

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

that was carved on

Brač Brač is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, with an area of , making it the largest island in Dalmatia, and the third largest in the Adriatic. It is separated from the mainland by the Brač Channel, which is wide.pedestrians A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, by wheelchair or with other mobility aids. Streets and roads often have a designated footpath for pedestrian traffic, called the ''sidewalk'' in North American English, the ''pavement'' in British Eng ...

and

cyclists Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world for pur ...

in the work zone was stopped. The first phase of the renovation includes the creation of new footpaths, the rehabilitation of the pedestrian fence and six corrosion-damaged places on the steel arches. Most slobode was renovated in 2019 for 27 million Croatian kuna. The second phase, the installation of new waterproofing and asphalt pavement is planned, the rehabilitation of the reinforced concrete pavement slab is planned, by removing contaminated concrete, installing rehabilitation mortars and concrete, and coating the slab with a protective coating. It is also planned to remove the old and apply new, anti-corrosion protection to the steel arches, transverse and secondary girders, and replace the steel parts of the bridge that have been damaged by

rust Rust is an iron oxide, a usually reddish-brown oxide formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the catalytic presence of water or air moisture. Rust consists of hydrous iron(III) oxides (Fe2O3·nH2O) and iron(III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO(OH) ...

. A new, vertical and horizontal drainage system will be installed on the bridge, and the fifth arch will be renovated. The completion of all works on the rehabilitation of the Liberty Bridge is planned for 2026 - revealed the Deputy Mayor of Zagreb, Luka Korlaet, adding that the estimated funds required for the planned works are around 17.5 million euros. The bridge is proposed to be open in 2026. The bridge was closed for all traffic multiple times for reconstruction, marathons and public gatherings.

References

Bridges in Zagreb Novi Zagreb Bridges completed in 1959 Bridges over the Sava in Croatia Yugoslav Croatian architecture {{Croatia-bridge-struct-stub