The Southern Bridge ( lv, Dienvidu tilts) is an

extradosed bridge An extradosed bridge employs a structure that combines the main elements of both a prestressed box girder bridge and a cable-stayed bridge. The name comes from the word ''extrados'', the exterior or upper curve of an arch, and refers to how the " ...

built across the

Daugava River , be, Заходняя Дзвіна (), liv, Vēna, et, Väina, german: Düna , image = Fluss-lv-Düna.png , image_caption = The drainage basin of the Daugava , source1_location = Valdai Hills, Russia , mouth_location = Gulf of Riga, Baltic S ...

in Riga, the capital of Latvia. The bridge was constructed between 2004 and 2008, and was opened on November 17, 2008. Construction of the access roads lasted until 2013. Because of the bridge's huge cost it also become colloquially known as The Golden Bridge (''Zelta tilts'').

Construction costs

The government control commission in a report for January 2002 to September 2008 showed that, during that period, costs increased fivefold – from a planned 108.84 million lats (154.87 million

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

) to 570.14 million lats (811.24 million €). In 2011

Riga City Council Riga City Council ( lv, Rīgas dome) is the government of the city of Riga, the capital of Latvia. Its meeting place is in the Riga Town Hall (''Rīgas rātsnams)'' at the Town Hall Square (''Rātslaukums'') in the very heart of Riga. The Riga C ...

terminated the agreement with Southern Bridge third round builders due to lack of funds. In early 2012 Riga City Council signed agreement with the new constructors to carry out final works of third stage of the Southern bridge and borrowed an additional seven million euros for funding. In 2009 The Economy Police launched a criminal case on suspected violations in construction of the bridge. State Audit Office concluded that the

had squandered 27 million lats in the construction. In 2013 the students of Stockholm School of Economics in Riga calculated that the same bridge could've been built for a budget two times smaller.

References

Extradosed bridges Extradosed bridges in Latvia Bridges in Riga Crossings of the Daugava River Cable-stayed bridges in Latvia {{Latvia-bridge-struct-stub