Bridges on the new Motorway from Zagreb to Split employ DSI Know-how

Bridge over the Guduca River, Motorway Zagreb-Split, Croatia

On June 26, 2005, the new Zagreb- Split Motorway was opened to traffic. This 375.7 km long motorway, part of the European Vb corridor, now links Zagreb and Split, the two largest cities in the Republic of Croatia. It is now the fastest route to the South of Croatia cutting travel time from Zagreb to Split to 3.5 hours compared to 7 hours via the old route. Thousands of tourists visiting Dalmatia and south-east Europe benefit from this new motorway as do the towns along the old city streets which are relieved of what had been heavy through traffic.

The area's rugged terrain required that more than 70 structures including tunnels, viaducts, and bridges were built in order to successfully complete this project. In DSI Info 13 we included a report about the Krka arch-bridge in the Skradin-Sibenik section of the new Zagreb-Split Motorway which made use of temporary DYWIDAG Suspension Cables.

In 2004/2005 DSI participated in another bridge on this important project, the Guduca Bridge located near Sibenik, a 55 meter tall structure crossing a canyon of the Guduca River. The bridge consists of two separate parallel structures, each for one motorway direction. The length of the bridge is 225 m with spans of 67 m + 96 m + 62 m. The piers have a height of 35 m and 45 m respectively; the width of each deck is 13.9 m.

Each pre-stressed hollow box girder superstructure was constructed using the free cantilever method employing a total four DYWIDAG Form Travellers and Type 12, 15 and 19x0.62"; DYWIDAG Post-Tensioning Strand Tendons. The construction of the foundations and piers started in September 2004 and superstructure construction began in December 2004. The bridge was successfully completed by the end of May 2005.