Assembly of the Kosická Steel Arch Bridge

Kosická bridge, Bratislava, Slovakia

The Kosická bridge is the 5th bridge to be built across the Danube in Bratislava and is currently the largest bridge construction project in the Slovakian Republic. The structure has a main span length of 231m and the arch is 36m high.

The DSI licensee SM 7 A.S. Prague pre-assembled 66 stay cables of type DYNA Grip 12 with strands 0.62" gr 1570/1770 directly on the bank of the Danube. The individual lengths of the stay cables are between 11m and 37m, with a total length of 1,800m.
Subsequently, the cables were installed in the arch structure and post-tensioned.

Because the bridge was built parallel to the river, it had to be rotated by 90°. For this purpose the structure, which weighs more than 5,000tons, was moved to an assembly of four barges with a displacement of 1,000 tons each via a merge slide. The barges carried half of the weight, while the remaining load continued to be carried by the rotation bearings. After the structure was brought into its final position, the stay cables were re-stressed.
Opening of the bridge is scheduled for May 31, 2005.