Franjo Tuđman Bridge (Dubrovnik) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Franjo Tuđman Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge

Cable-stayed bridge

A cable-stayed bridge is a bridge that consists of one or more columns , with cables supporting the bridge deck....

D8 (Croatia)

D8 state road comprises Croatian section of Adriatic Highway, and it runs from Pasjak border crossing to Slovenia via Rijeka, Senj, Zadar, Šibenik, Split, Opuzen and Dubrovnik to the border with Montenegro at Karasovići. Most of the D8 state road is still a two-lane road, excepting rare four-lane...

at the western approach to Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...

, Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

across Rijeka Dubrovačka near Port of Gruž

Gruž

Gruž is modern day neighborhood in the greater city of Dubrovnik, Croatia. The main port for Dubrovnik is in Gruž as well as its largest market and the main bus station "Libertas". Around 15,000 people currently live in Gruž...

. The original bridge design was developed in 1989, however construction was stopped at the onset of the Croatian War of Independence

Croatian War of Independence

The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...

. The bridge has been redesigned by Structures Department of the University of Zagreb

University of Zagreb

The University of Zagreb is the biggest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe...

Faculty of Civil Engineering and the design employed has been developed by Zlatko Šavor.

Structure

The bridge is 518 metres (1,699.5 ft) long, measured between the abutments. Substructure of the bridge consists of the abutments, a pier on the western shore supporting a pretensioned girder and an anchoring pier on the eastern shore.

Supported structure on the cable-stayed portion of the bridge consists of a composite girder, an A-shaped pylon and the cable stays. Overall span of the girder is 324.7 m (1,065.3 ft). Concrete roadway slab is of generally constant depth of 25 cm (9.8 in). A total of 38 cable stays have been executed, comprising 27 to 61 steel wire cables placed in protective polyethylene pipes.

The pylon is 141.5 m (464.2 ft) tall, measured from the top surface of the foundations. It comprises a box cross section of varying size. An additional box girder is executed just below the suspended structure providing it an additional support as well as bracing the pylon legs. The cable stays are anchored to the top of the pylon. A special opening has been executed in one of the pylon legs, next to the sidewalk, providing access to the inside of its cross-section, where there are rungs facilitating climbing to the top of the pylon, where another opening on its top allows replacements of the anchors, should that become necessary.

The western part of the bridge comprises a pretensioned girder of variable depth (3.25 m (10.7 ft) at the abutment, 8.22 m (27 ft) at the pier and 3.2 m (10.5 ft) at the end of the cantilever).

Construction and completion of the bridge

Construction of the bridge started in October 1998. The construction works were carried out by Walter Bau AG and Konstruktor

Konstruktor

Konstruktor inženjering d.d. is a Croatian construction company founded in 1945 as "Konstruktor-Split" in Split, Yugoslavia ....

, Split

Split (city)

Split is a Mediterranean city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, centered around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian and its wide port bay. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatian city and...

. Construction was completed in April 2002, and the bridge was officially opened on May 21, 2002. The bridge construction costs were reportedly 252 million Croatian kuna

Croatian kuna

The kuna is the currency of Croatia since 1994 . It is subdivided into 100 lipa. The kuna is issued by the Croatian National Bank and the coins are minted by the Croatian Monetary Institute....

(c. US$31 million) making Franjo Tuđman Bridge the most expensive bridge in Croatia. Opening of the bridge was characterized by delays due to various permit requirements, so the opening and dedication ceremony was delayed five times.

Naming controversy

Initially, Hrvatske ceste

Hrvatske ceste

Hrvatske ceste is a Croatian state-owned company pursuant to provisions of the Croatian Public Roads Act , the county and local roads are managed by county authorities, while the motorways are managed by Croatian Motorways Ltd and other concessionaires.The company is currently administered by a...

who financed the construction named the bridge Dubrovnik Bridge . However, even before the official opening of the bridge, there was some controversy regarding the name of the bridge, as mayor of Dubrovnik expressed a request that the bridge be named Franjo Tuđman Bridge instead. The controversy grew on May 10, 2002, one day before a scheduled opening ceremony, when traffic signs that are supposed to display name of the bridge were shown on the Croatian TV

Croatian Radiotelevision

Croatian Radiotelevision is a Croatian public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite...

, unsure of actual name of the bridge. Hrvatske ceste, the operator of the bridge placed signs saying Dubrovnik Bridge, but next to those were similar signs indicating name Franjo Tuđman Bridge. Later, in 2004, the name of the bridge was officially changed to Franjo Tuđman Bridge.

Traffic volume

Traffic on the state roads in Croatia is regularly counted and reported by Hrvatske ceste

Hrvatske ceste

, operator of the state roads. There is no actual traffic count performed at the Franjo Tuđman Bridge itself, however Hrvatske ceste operate a counting station which covers a section of the D8 state road

D8 (Croatia)

adjacent to the D8 and Ž6254 county road junction (to the west of the junction). Since the Franjo Tuđman Bridge is located only 1200 m (3,937 ft) to the east of the junction, and no other D8 junctions are found between the two, the figure, even though not exact, is highly indicative of the traffic volume carried by the bridge.

Franjo Tuđman Bridge traffic volume
Road	Counting site	AADT	ASDT	Notes
D8	6601 Zaton	7,669	13,085	Adjacent to the D8/Ž6254 junction (to the west).

Structure

Construction and completion of the bridge

Naming controversy

Traffic volume

See also