Old Sava bridge to be put into operation in March - daily capacity of bridge is about 30,000 automobiles

The old Sava bridge, of which reconstruction started in October 2007, will be put into operation at the beginning of March, when major part of voluminous reconstruction will be finished. According to the words of Radoslav Uskoković, the CEO of the building sector in "Intermost", after the completion of reconstruction, which includes access road on both sides of the river, regulation of additional lanes and reconstruction of Zemunski put Street and Vladimira Popovića Street, the daily capacity of the bridge will be about 30,000 automobiles, which is twice as much as before.

- The works on rehabilitation of the bridge include rehabilitation of the bridge structure, rehabilitation of bridge piers, testing of foundations in the river, rehabilitation of central piers above the postament, reconstruction of lane structure and tram railway gages, anti-corrosive protection of the bridge, reconstruction of contact network on access junctions and bridge, new functional and decorative lighting – Uskoković explains.

According to his words, this facility has introduced innovations in our civil engineering, "the gage is supported by an elastic polyurethane base for the first time, while hydro-insulation of the steel orthopanel is made of methylmetacrylat".

The old Sava bridge in Belgrade will also get decorative lighting, so that, in addition to the Railway and Branko's bridge, the capital city will get another representative symbol.

- Company "ABS Minel kontaktne mreže" is reponsible for decorative and functional lighting, "ZGOB" from Novi Sad was working on reconstruction of the railway gage, "Antikor" from Belgrade did the anti-corrosive protection, while "Beograd put" carried out paving works- said he.

Pointing out that the reconstruction much depends on the weather conditions, he expressed expectation that the works on the bridge would be completely finished within one month.

- We still need to do rehabilitation of river piers. The works depend on the water level of the Sava, but that will not have influence on functioning of transportation across the bridge – said he.

The project documentation, according to Uskoković, was designed by "Mostprojekt", "IMS" and "CIP".