The bridge designed and built by FCC is a total of 1,951 metres long

Bridge-building work

FCC Construcción is engaged in building a bridge over the Danube between the localities of Vidin, Bulgaria, and Calafat, Rumania. The project, which includes the dual carriageway accesses and railway accesses on the Bulgarian side, is being accomplished using 95% FCC Construcción’s own resources.

The bridge, designed and built by FCC, is a total of 1,951 metres long. Its foundations are reinforced concrete piles two metres in diameter, plunging to depths ranging between 60 and 80 metres below the level of the pile caps. The bridge has three clearly differentiated parts:

Bridge over the navigable channel

Extradosed structure, comprising four pylons whose height varies between 39 and 45 metres above the pile caps. The bridge consists of five spans 124, 180, 180, 180 and 115 metres in length. The standard cross-section of the deck in this zone holds four 3.25-metre-wide motorway lanes, 50-centimetre shoulders on both sides, a central portion on which the six-metre-wide railway line travels, a bicycle lane off to one side and sidewalks. The bridge’s total width is 31.35 metres. The deck is made of precast concrete segments 4.18 metres thick and weighing approximately 250 tonnes apiece.

Bridge over the non-navigable channel

Made of eight piers whose height varies between three and 20 metres, this bridge has got seven 80-metre spans and one 52-metre-long span. The standard cross-section of the deck in this area is the same as in the bridge over the navigable channel. The deck is made of precast concrete segments 2.15 metres thick, weighing approximately 100 tonnes apiece. The portion where the cantilevers will be overhanging the sides in this zone of the bridge will be built in situ later, in phase two, using wagon-built formwork.

Railway access bridge

Aerial view of the casting facility

This bridge is made of thirteen piers standing a maximum of 12 metres tall, with twelve 40-metre spans and one 32-metre-long span. Of these spans, ten lie on the Bulgarian side and three lie on the deck of the bridge above the non-navigable channel. The railway deck features a standard 8.60-metre-wide cross-section measuring 1.89 metres along the edge. The deck is made of concrete post-stressed in situ.

The accesses to the bridge consist of nine kilometres of motorway and sixteen kilometres of single-line electrified railway and industrial branch lines. This includes eight flyovers, two of which are 192 metres long, two pedestrian walkways, the construction of a new international railway station for goods and alterations to the existing passenger station.

The casting facility is situated three kilometres downriver from the bridge. Occupying 20 hectares, the facility consists of two concrete plants, three segment-casting lines, six beam-casting lines, ten jacked-pile-casting lines and two kerb-casting lines. It was necessary to build a harbour to supply the navigable zone of the bridge with materials.