MILAN, Italy, July 07, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- One of the biggest Cohesion Policy-funded projects, the Braila Bridge in Romania, was inaugurated today. It will connect the Black Sea ports and the Danube Delta with the rest of the country and with the wider Trans-European Transport Network. It is the longest structure in the country with a total length of 1,975 metres and is the second longest suspension bridge in continental Europe, with a central span of 1,120 metres. The EU’s contribution to this project amounts to €363 million from Cohesion Policy funds.
The bridge was built by the joint venture between the Italian company Webuild, which holds a 60% share, and the Japanese company IHI Infrastructure Systems. 2 km long, 38 meters above the water and with four lanes, this suspension bridge is the largest in Romania and the largest over the Danube and, overall, the third largest suspension bridge in the EU. The bridge will allow the free transit of vessels and it will replace a slow and unreliable ferry link, which is often interrupted during winter and bad weather conditions.
It was inaugurated today in the presence of the President of Romania Klaus Iohannis, the European Commissioner for Transport Adina-Ioana Valean and the Undersecretary of State to the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport Undersecretary Tullio Ferrante, accompanied by the Italian Ambassador in Bucharest Alfredo Durante Mangoni and the CEO of Webuild Pietro Salini.
Salini: "After Braila, we are ready to build a record bridge over the Strait of Messina"
"After the inauguration of two new stations of the M4 metro in Milan in recent days, today we are proud to cut the ribbon on another project, the Braila Bridge, which will improve and simplify the everyday life of many people and businesses in the region, bringing them closer together and creating value". This was stated by Pietro Salini, CEO of Webuild.
"Together with IHI, after the technological challenge of Braila, we are ready to build, again with a single span, a record-breaking bridge over the Strait of Messina, placing at the service of the country the successes that Italian engineering has achieved in the world. Due to the length of its central span, Braila represents a 1:3 scale model of the bridge that will finally unite Sicily and Calabria. These projects are first and foremost dreams, and today our Group has the honour of making them a reality," Salini added. The two banks of the Danube in south-eastern Romania are now connected by the newly completed Braila Bridge, the longest bridge in the country with a total length of 1,975 metres and the second longest suspension bridge in continental Europe, with a central span of 1,120 metres.
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