Spanish civil engineering group Azvi has said it completed the installation of the two arches at the Zezelj bridge across the Danube river in Novi Sad, in northern Serbia.
The two arches – with a length of 180 and 220 metres, respectively – are the longest of their type in Europe and have a total weight of 11,300 tonnes, Azvi said in a statement on Wednesday.
The installation of the arches represents an important milestone in the project of construction of the 474-m long Zezelj bridge, featuring two railway lines, two road lanes and two lanes designed for pedestrians and cyclists. The new bridge will replace one destroyed in a NATO air raid against Serbia in 1999.
The European Union has invested 30.3 million euro ($35.8 million) in the construction of the bridge, plus 4.1 million euro for the construction of access roads, while Novi Sad local government has provided financing of some 4 million euro so far.
The Zezelj bridge is part of Pan-European Corridor X which will connect Salzburg in Austria to the Greek port of Thessaloniki, passing through Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia. In Serbia, the project includes the construction of the Belgrade bypass motorway, as well as two separate sections, linking Nis to Levosoje, near the border with Macedonia, to the south, and to the border with Bulgaria to the east.
