Bratislava's New Most Kosicka/Apollo Bridge turned across Danube
Bratislava, September 20, 2004 - Bratislavians and Bratislava visitors turned up in droves to witness the turning of Bratislava's fifth bridge across the Danube connecting the right Petrzalka Bank with the centre of the city over the past weekend.
The 5,240 tonne bridge structure was turned across the river using several ships onto a pillar some 40 metres from the right bank, while river traffic had been suspended. The object being turned in the unique venture has a span of about 230 metres.
The new bridge built at a cost of some SKK 3.6 billion is expected to ease congestion of Bratislava's four bridges currently in place. Some 175,000 vehicles cross the bridges every day, exceeding their capacity. Especially if accidents occur, traffic on the bridges can get very slow.
The bridge will be located between the current Pristavny (Port) Bridge and the Old Bridge originally built by the Russian army after World War II.
Since 1976 plans have been in place to add a bridge in the Kosicka locality. The Kosicka name referring to the street into which the bridge leads on the left bank will be replaced by a name decided by the city - Apollo Bridge. Several opinion polls have taken place on the name and even the name John Paul II bridge has been mooted briefly after the late pontiff's passing. The city council has agreed that the bridge is not to be named after a personality but no final decision had been made as of May 2005.
Current news on Bridge Apollo/Kosicka (including photos):
Atlas (in Slovak)
IOL (in English)
Photos:
private photos from within the bridge structure here, construction photos here, visualisations of finished bridge here, video simulation here, locality where bridge is built before construction here, construction photos here.
Videos (avi animated sets of webcam stills taken during the turning operation, requires RealPlayer):
Animated Zoznam Webcam
Animated Atlas Webcam
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