Brăila Bridge

The Brăila Bridge is a road suspension bridge in Romania, still under construction. The bridge crosses over the Danube river, between Brăila, a major city in the east of Romania, and the opposite bank of the river in Tulcea County. The contract for the building of the bridge was signed on 15 January 2018 and the construction works started in December 2018. When completed in 2023 the bridge will improve road traffic accessibility of the Galați-Brăila area to Constanța and Tulcea, and connections between Moldavia, Muntenia and Dobruja regions. Currently the only way to cross the Danube in the Galați-Brăila area is by ferry. The nearest bridge on the Danube is the Giurgeni-Vadu Oii Bridge which is 70 km (43 miles) upstream.

Context

The bridge will be part of the Buzău - Brăila - Tulcea - Constanța expressway planned to be built between 2022 - 2030. This road will connect the southern part of Moldova and Muntenia to Northern Dobrogea and the Danube Delta. It will also be the last bridge on the Danube before the river reaches the Black Sea.

History

The idea of a bridge near Brăila appeared in the 1980's when 3 possible locations were studied. In 1996 a pre-feasibility study was initiated followed by a feasibility study in 2001 which was completed in 2003. In the years 2015-2016 that feasibility study was updated and in 2017 was approved by CNAIR and the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, and Communications of Romania.

Development

• September 2016 - The bridge receives the environmental agreement (permit)
• April 2017 - The tender for the construction of the bridge is launched with the publication of the tender in the electronic registry of public acquisitions (SEAP) on the 28 April 2017.
• 2017 - There were two associations that made offers for the construction of the bridge:
  • Astaldi SpA - Romanian branch – IHI Infrastructure Systems Co. Ltd (Japan)
  • China Communication Construction Company Ltd (China) – China Road and Bridge Corporation (China) – Eptisa Servicios de Ingenieria SL (Spain)– Euro Construct Trading '98 SRL (Romania)– CCCC Second Harbour Engineering Co Ltd) (China)- CCCC Highway Consults Co Ltd (China).
• 20 October 2017 - the contract to build the Brăila Bridge is awarded to the association between Astaldi Romania and IHI Infrastructure Systems for 1.995.932.260,25 lei (without VAT) (~ € 433 million) 1
• 15 January 2018 - official signing of the contract to build the Brăila Bridge with the association between Astaldi Romania and IHI Infrastructure Systems 2 . The contract stipulates that the project is to be completed in 48 months (12 months planning phase + 36 months building phase).

Construction milestones

• 26 February 2018 - The notice to commence work on the plans (project) of the bridge is issued
• 18 December 2018 - The permit for the building of the bridge is issued 3
• December 2018 - Start of the construction works
• September 2020 - Start of the concrete pour for the pillars using climbing formwork
• 22 December 2020 - The first pillars (on the Brăila side) of the bridge reached their maximum height of 186 meters (~610 ft)
• 7 January 2021 - The pillars on the Jijila side have reached height of 162,5 meters (~533 ft) with a progress of about 2 m (6.5 ft) per day.

Specifications

The project consists of the construction of a suspension bridge of 1,974.30 m (6,477.4 ft) length (with a 1,120 m (3,670 ft) main span, and two side spans of 489.65 m (1,606.5 ft) long on the Brăila bank of the river and 364.65 m (1,196.4 ft) long on the Tulcea bank of the river), two access viaducts of 110 m (360 ft) length on both sides (which will add to the length of the suspended bridge), and a connecting road with a total length of approximately 23 km (14 mi).

The final height of the pillars will be 192.64 meters (632 ft) while the clearance of the bridge deck above water will be 38m (~124 ft). The steel wire used for the main cables is estimated to be 81000 kilometers (~ 50331 miles) long and their total weight is 6700 tons. The warranty offered for the cables by the Japanese constructor is 120 years. The thickness of the cable will be 60 cm (23 inch). There will be a total of 86 bridge deck segments each weighing 250 tons. The total weight of the deck segments will be 20800 tons. 4

The entire project is being built by the Astaldi (Romanian branch) and IHI Infrastructure Systems association, at an estimated cost of € 433 million

Current status

Under construction, expected to be opened in 2023

Statistics

• This will be the first bridge over the maritime Danube sector, and the fourth bridge over the Romanian section of the river.
• After it will be built the Brăila Bridge with its longest span of 1,120 m (3670 ft) will be in the top 5 bridges in Europe

Further reading

Bridges in Romania
List of bridges in Romania
List of bridges in Europe
List of bridges on the Danube
List of longest suspension bridge spans
Romania
Danube