The Brauli Danube Bridge, one of the most complex infrastructure works ever undertaken in Romania, will be inaugurated on Thursday, with traffic reopening from 1 p.m. The work is not yet fully completed, with hundreds of workers working even through the last few nights on the finishing touches, and the main road connecting the coast at Tulcea will not be ready until the end of the year.

The Braila Bridge is a suspension bridge almost 2 kilometers long – the third longest suspension bridge in the EU, compared to the much more famous bridge “Golden Gate” from San Francisco – an investment of almost 700 million euros, is probably the most difficult of all the works carried out by the Romanian road company.

Although the opening of traffic will take place on Thursday, all the work is not yet complete.

The bridge is intended for vehicular traffic only, pedestrians and cyclists do not have access to the bridge.

The bridge is designed for a 120-year service life, the toll will not be paid for the first 5 years.

VIDEO – Braille bridge before the grand opening

In recent days, the entire stretch of the bridge has been an anthill, with hundreds of workers working on the final details, and overnight scores of climbers working against the clock to paint the bridge supports.

In addition, precisely because everything is not ready at the time of traffic opening, traffic will be stopped during the following period at night so that the cranes can be safely removed from each pole.

In addition, the main connecting road on the bank of Tulcea, which reaches the city of Jijila, is not yet ready and can be opened only in autumn and winter. At the moment, the connection on the bank of Tulcea will be a short connection to the national road that leads to Machin.

And there is another piece that is not ready now and will be completed later, by the end of the year: a stretch of about 1 kilometer that crosses the railway and reaches the Braila belt.

VIDEO – Latest work and decoration on the Braila Bridge – Painting the piers at night

Breil Bridge – “Golden Gate” across the Danube

The total length of the suspension bridge over the Danube is 1,974.30 meters, and the central opening is 1,120 meters.

comparative, the famous Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco has a length of 1,970 meters and a central span of 1,280 meters.

The Braila Bridge mainly has three spans: the main span (1120 m) and two side spans of 489.65 m on the Braila bank and 364.65 m on the Tulcea bank. On one side and on the other side there are two approach viaducts, each 110 m long.

“At the time of completion, it will be the third bridge in Europe in terms of central span and length,” Avtodorig said at the start of the project.

More precisely, it is the peak of the suspension bridges in the current EU – the Braille Bridge will be in third place after the main opening, after the Great Belt Bridge – Denmark (1624 meters) and the Hoga Kusten Bridge – Sweden (1210 meters).

The two towers of the bridge reach a height of 192 meters and are practically the tallest buildings in Romania (except for some chimneys or antennas).

The four main piers of the bridge are hollow inside and equipped with elevators and stairs for maintenance.

The total length of roads (including the bridge) is 23,413 km and consists of two sections: the main Braila – Jijila road with a length of 19,095 km and connecting road with DN22 Smârdan – Măcin with a length of 4328 km.

• The main road Braila – Jijila. It has a length of 19.095 km and will be provided with two lanes of traffic in each direction up to 8 kilometers, and then one lane of traffic in each direction until the end of the project – 19 km. The road also has curb lanes, driveways, a median square, and a parapet area.

• Connecting road with DN22 Smârdan – Măcin (which opens on July 6). This 4.328 km long road has one lane in each direction. The connecting road starts from km 7+940 of the main road (Brăila-Jijila) and intersects with DN22 Smârdan-Măcin.

Braila Bridge: Steel Wires Enough to Circle the Planet Twice and Metal Deck Built in Romania

About 81,000 kilometers of steel wire were used to build the bridge, enough to circle the earth twice. These thin steel wires were woven into 16 strands that form two main cables, each two kilometers long.

The total weight of the two cables is more than 6,700 tons, and the Japanese cable manufacturer’s warranty is 120 years.

Each cable has a diameter of 60 centimeters and is fixed to anchor blocks on each bank.

The metal segments of the deck are attached to the two main cables with several hundred ties.

Each segment of the metal deck has an average weight of 250 tonnes and was manufactured at the Fincantieri shipyards in Braila from Liberty Steel in Galata. In total, the metal deck consists of 86 segments with a total weight of more than 20,800 tons.

Cable and deck dehumidification system

On the Braille Bridge, an advanced dewatering system will also work for all bridge components, including the metal deck and cables, explains Ionel Skirosteanu, Secretary of State for Transport.

“The cables are insulated on the outside with a shield that ensures tightness, and the air inside is constantly dehumidified and controlled to ensure an anti-corrosion environment,” he says.

Likewise, to ensure durability and high corrosion protection, uDD FA uD835uDDF2uD835uDE01uD835uDDEEuD835uDDF9uD835uDDF6uD835uDDF0 is also internally dehumidified, “some longitudinal stiffeners are used as ducts to distribute dehumidified air in the interior deck space, and the system sensors will monitor that the humidity in the box is lower than the level that causes oxidation,” says Skriostianu.

The Secretary of State notes that relative humidity will be less than 40% to prevent corrosion and ensure safe traffic on the bridge in all seasons.

Bridge across the Danube from Braila – contract dates:

Length: Bridge + road Brăila – Jijila (19 km), connecting road DN22 Smârdan Măcin (4.3 km)

Value design and implementation contract: 1.99 billion lei (without VAT)

Total investment cost: 3,445,210,691.08 lei (including non-refundable European funds in the amount of 1,696,947,365.85 lei)

Builder: We Build (formerly Astaldi – Italy) – IHI Infrastructure System (Japan)

Signed contract: 15.01.2018 (terms: 12 months of design and 36 months of execution)

Work started: December 2018 (permits for the construction of connecting roads were received only in March/May 2021)

Physical stage – the entire project (July 2023): bridges – 97% / roads – 80%

Click on the plans to open them in a larger size in a separate window: