Romania’s Highest Bridge Over the Danube: A 14-Year-Old Project, Still Not Started

The Braila suspension bridge is one of the oldest and most important infrastructure projects in Romania. Every moment brings us closer to realization, at least theoretically. However, construction itself hasn’t started yet; they are only at the stage of identifying the right teams to build it.

At 47 meters high, 23 kilometers long, and 31 meters wide, the highest bridge over the Danube in Romania sounds impressive. One end will be on the shore near Braila, the other end – on the shore towards Tulcea. The next highest bridge over the Danube is the one at Calafat, with a height of 45 meters. The difference comes from the type of traffic the two bridges serve. The Galati bridge serves the river sector, and the Calafat one – the maritime sector, where ship clearance is smaller. According to specialist calculations, the investment is half a billion euros, but it is to be covered by European funds. The contract duration is nine years, but the first year and a half will be destined exclusively for design. This will be followed by three years for the construction itself, and five years will be the warranty period.

On either side of the bridge, two access viaducts will be built, each 110 meters long. The bridge will have two traffic lanes in each direction, separated in the center by a three-meter-wide zone. For those who want to cross the bridge on foot, or for emergency situations, there will be two additional lanes for pedestrian traffic, bicycles, or maintenance personnel. These sidewalks are 2.8 meters each.

The importance of the suspended bridge over the Danube is crucial for Romania’s economy. The project is included in Romania’s General Transport Master Plan and is part of the ITI (Integrated Territorial Investments) category, eligible for funding from POIM 2014 – 2020, Priority Axis 2 “Development of a multimodal, quality, sustainable, and efficient transport system”. However, for such an important project, it is being delayed significantly. This is one of the oldest projects announced by the authorities in Braila, Tulcea, and Galati counties. However, they do not seem to agree, and so far several pre-feasibility and feasibility studies have been conducted. The most recent of these was done in 2015, and the oldest were done in 2003.