Podul Suspendat peste Dunare de la Braila | Documentar Cum s-a construit | Brăila Suspension Bridge

Romania has a new bridge. And it’s big! The second suspension bridge in mainland Europe has a total length of 1974.3 metres, a main span of 1120 metres, a total width of 31 metres, and a height of towers of 192.64 metres. The vertical gauge of the bridge is 38 metres from the maximum level of flooding thus fulfilling the required sailing criteria on the River Danube. The construction of this bridge was not an easy task. The 500-million-euro megaproject where 1350 people and around 100 suppliers

from various countries participated in the construction of, was confronted with numerous challenges, namely unstable soil, extreme temperatures and winds, negative economic and social events. Join us in our journey to discover the incredible story behind the construction of this suspension bridge. The construction of the suspension bridge over the river Danube by Raducu Popa On July 6, 2023, following tens of years of promises and waiting, the new bridge was opened to the public. High officials

from Romania, Italy and Japan, together with representatives from the builders The bridge links the counties of Brăila and Tulcea, being the last one before the Danube empties into the Black Sea. The total length of the roads, including the bridge, is 23.41 kilometres, and comprises two sections: the main road Brăila-Jijila, with a length of 19.095 kilometres, and the 4.33-kilometre linking road with DN22 Smârdan-Măcin. It improved the travel time from 45 minutes by ferry to just 2 minutes. The

contract for building the bridge was signed on January 15, 2018 by the National Infrastructure Administration CNAIR, as beneficiary, and WeBuild Italy-IHI Infrastructure Systems Company Ldt. Japan joint venture, as builders, having 12 months for planning the design and 36 months for the actual building. This project began in 2019, when we first started working here with the construction of Jijila anchorage block, which was the element we began with. The platform was necessary for us to be able t

o build everything that included elements of guide beams in order to then build the diaphragm walls. Without these structures we could not have made the high-depth excavations, particularly those minus-46-metre-deep cylinders which you probably saw online, then we started building the two towers, especially the one at Jijila, which was a bit more complex as it was located in the river bed. At the time of the construction, the Danube had a high water level, and we made a series of operations in o

rder to be able to raise this platform over the flood level so that when the construction was about to be raised, we would be totally safe. Afterwards, massive excavations for the blocks of anchorage commenced, more than 45,000 cubic metres of material from each block of anchorage having been excavated, and in order for this to be possible, we had to activate a system of dewatering, a series of high-depth drillings, for us to be able to depressurize the anchorage block. As you know, the two bloc

ks of anchorage are in close proximity of the Danube, and its influence on the aquifer is massive. At the same time, we started drilling high-diameter foundation piles for the towers, at a depth of minus 57 meters, having a diameter of 1800 centimetres, and which were the foundation basis for the towers. The towers with a height of 192.6 metres which you can see behind me are structures built with a system of sliding casing. A new technology was used, with a self-lifting casing while continuousl

y pouring concrete, giving us the possibility to advance around 2.5 meters a day in height, and 3 months were enough for the elevations to be made up to the level necessary for the cable deviation saddles. After these operations were completed, a new important stage began, that of transferring the guiding cable in order to start installing that catwalk from which the main cable was built. Transferred from a bank to the other with the aid of a funicular with a dynamic wheel that would take every

single wire and carry it from the Jijila bank to the Brăila bank and back again, wire by wire, those locked coil cables of 544 wires were made, which, in turn, were compacted together, eventually forming the main cable, which was very useful for us to be able to lift the bridging elements which were brought, as you know, from the dockyard. There were 86 items, each weighing around 250 tons, having a total structure weight of more than 22,000 tons. Welding, assembling and all the other operations

completed, the layers of hydro isolation were put in place, followed by the asphalt mixture and everything that came afterwards, including safety elements, parapets, middle strip, light poles and so on. In the world of engineering wonders, there are few structures that could rival the beauty and complexity of suspension bridges. The suspension bridge over the Danube, this path of dreams and aspirations, is an engineering wonder in this world of uncertainty and conflicts, and an example of what

could be achieved when nations blend their skills by working together.