forces in motion

Munich, Bratislava. Bratislava is about to get its fifth Danube bridge in the South. Due to the bridge weight and the main span of 210 m enormous verticalforces act on the bridge bearings: up to 21,000 t. Moreover, in case of an earthquake, the bearings will have to accommodate 4,000 t of horizontal forces. The bearing specialist MAURER has built the bearings, being the only manufacturer capable of designing bearings with these dimensions.

Since 2016, a bypass featuring a length of 59 km has been under constructionin the South and East of the Slovakian capital of Bratislava, one of the largest infrastructure projects in Europe. The abbreviation for this major project is D4R7, named after the highway D4 (27 km) and the expressway R7 (32 km). This bypass will enable easier cargo transit as well as better management of the transit traffic, with a positive impact on safety and traffic fluidity in Bratislava that will help ease off traffic on existing radials through heavily urbanized areas which will eliminate daily traffic jams for commuters travelling to the Capital.

Bridge across the Danube and its branches

The centerpiece of the project is a new highway bridge across the Danube, the fifth and Southernmost Danube bridge for Bratislava. Besides the river Danube, it spans a branch named Kayak as well as other branches. Including the access bridges in the flooded area, it features a length of 3 km.