Breathless. The Braila Bridge: A New Icon on the Danube

Two supporting cables, held in place by a tower on either shore, each standing 180 metres high. Cables that are formed by more than 18,000 intertwined steel fibres, or more than 9,000 for each one. Cables that weigh a combined 6,775 tonnes and whose fibres would stretch, if lined up end-to-end, 38,000 kilometres, nearly the circumference of the Earth. 

These are some of the impressive features of the Bridge across the Danube River in Braila (Romania), a structure that has already become an icon on the Danube River in Romania before being completed. Financed by the European Union, it is being built by Webuild and a joint-venture partner, set to become the second longest suspension bridge on continental Europe. Its main deck is 1,120 metres long, but its total length is 1,975 metres. 

It will reduce the time it takes vehicles to cross the river to two rather than 45 minutes when using the ferry. It will have four lanes, an emergency lane, and cycling and pedestrian paths. Located 8 kilometres from downtown Galati, and 95 kilometres from the Danube’s delta on the Back Sea, it will be able to receive 7,000 vehicles per day. 

The construction, which involved approximately 1,350 workers and a chain of 100 suppliers, reached 72% completion this fall, with spectacular moments like the raising of 86 prefabricated sections from barges on the river to create the deck. Each section weighed 260 tonnes.