Largest suspension bridge in the Czech Republic begins to arch over the Elbe River in Pardubice

A new bridge will span the Elbe River in Pardubice by June, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the Czech Republic. Workers began to extend the bridge structure over the river today using hydraulics. The bridge is part of the north-eastern bypass. Everything should be completed by autumn next year.

"We are proceeding at a speed of half a metre in 15 seconds in one stroke, we are extending 32 metres. We have to work with millimetre precision, surveyors are here, the structure is being surveyed. Horizontal and vertical checks are carried out gradually during the extension, we must not deviate even by a millimetre," said Petr Škoda from Doprastav.

The company is building the bridge in such a way as not to restrict traffic on the adjacent cycle path or on the river where sportsmen use boats. The construction company moves the bridge using hydraulics. The bridge section rides on bearings and Teflon plates to smoothly cross the auxiliary supports.

"We expect to get the whole bridge on the other side in June. Then we'll have to tune up the bridge, do more construction, finish the pylon, and run the cables across it to suspend the bridge structure. Once the bridge is suspended, we can remove the auxiliary structures," Škoda said.

The suspension bridge is made of prestressed concrete, the span over the blind arm of the Elbe will be 122 metres, over the Elbe River it will be a record 135 metres, making it the largest suspension bridge in the Czech Republic. There is a similar but smaller one in Poděbrady.

According to bridge expert Petr Vitek from Hochtief, the structure will look nice in the landscape. "We consistently paid attention to the aesthetic appearance of the bridge, because it is supposed to be here for at least 100 years. We wanted it to look nice in the landscape, so that we don't build something we will be ashamed of," said Vítek.

He said it is the first suspension bridge to be built in the country using the draw-out method. "The suspension bridge is optimal for the location. There are constraining conditions, there must not be a bridge support between the road on the bank and the watercourse, that was one of the factors why we decided for a suspension bridge," Vitek said.

Both Skoda and Vitek said the work will be completed by next autumn. Bridge expert Vítek said the work is several months behind schedule, but due to the optimization of the work, it will not be a complication and the newly set fall deadline can be met. "The delays are units of months, but it will not affect the completion date, which is autumn next year. Some things can and will be done at the same time," Vitek said.

The construction has also been delayed by the purchase of land, which is the last 300 square metres of the road route, said Radek Mátl, director of the Regional Directorate of Transport, some time ago. Because the road builders did not agree on the buyout, they started expropriating. "We are currently completing the expropriation of two property deeds on the construction of the northeastern bypass," said Jan Rýdl, spokesman for the RDS.

The bridge is being built as part of the northeastern bypass, for which Pardubice has been waiting for a long time. "We will gain much higher traffic capacity across both banks of the Elbe, we can't wait, we have been waiting for the bypass for a long time. We are working very closely with road engineers on the construction of a cycle path that will run around the bypass, so that it will ideally open when it is completed," said Deputy Mayor Jan Hrabal (ANO).

The preparation of the bypass took the road engineers since 2006. The construction of the 4.2-kilometre-long section began in December 2022. The relocation of the I/36 starts at Dubina near Lidl, where it will connect to the roundabout, then crosses the Elbe and runs through Hradecka Street to the roundabout near the Globus store. The cost is almost CZK 1.5 billion.

Source: CTK
Photo: Ředitelství silnic a dálnic