Ada Bridge

About

The Ada Bridge (Serbian: Мост на Ади / Most na Adi) is a cable-stayed bridge over the Sava River in Belgrade, Serbia. The bridge crosses the tip of Ada Ciganlija island, connecting the municipalities of Čukarica and New Belgrade. The bridge pylon is located at the tip of the island, which has been reinforced with large amounts of concrete and has been slightly enlarged to provide stronger foundations. Construction began in 2008, and the bridge opened on 1 January 2012. Adjoining roads were completed in 2013. Immediately after the design was announced, it polarized both the professionals and politicians. Those who were in favor of the bridge claimed it is the most beautiful and the most functional of all Belgrade bridges, while those against it called it a megalomaniacal, too expensive, and unnecessary. However, since becoming fully operational in 2012, the bridge has become one of the city's symbols and "inescapable décor in music videos and movies", but also in video cards, commercials, etc. It is referred to as the "most representative bridge in the capital".

Ada Bridge is the most upstream Belgrade bridge over the Sava river within the urban area. Additionally, the bridge is the only direct connection between the municipalities of New Belgrade (Blokovi) and Čukarica (Banovo Brdo). The bridge pylon is located on the tip of the Ada Ciganlija island.

In 1923, architect Đorđe Kovaljevski created the first urbanization plan of the area that envisaged a bridge over Ada Ciganlija. The initial idea of what is today known as the Belgrade Inner City Semi-Ring Road, to which the bridge is an important part, was created at that time. This road was part of several plans under different names, such as the Main Ring Road, Transverse Road, Eastern Tangent Road, each with slightly different routes. All the plans had one thing in common: the Ada Ciganlija Bridge. In early plans, the bridge was placed closer to the Lake, while the final project placed the bridge on the very tip of the island due to ecological concerns about the lake. After World War II, when Belgrade was left without any motorway bridges over the Sava, this route had no precedence, as narrower and closer to downtown locations had a priority. The project was pushed aside until the early 2000s.

The name was chosen by the popular vote, though the name Most na Adi (literally, Bridge on Ada) became a colloquial name for the bridge already during its construction. Novi most (New bridge) is a frequently used unofficial name for the bridge. Among the other proposed names was Harfa (the harp), because of its look. Some of the linguists asserted that the only correct version can be Most preko Ade (Bridge across, or over, Ada), but their other colleagues said that this version is also correct.

The competition for the preliminary design of the bridge was held in 2004. Twelve companies submitted bids, with the winning design by the Slovenian company Ponting. The bridge designers were the architects Viktor Markelj and Peter Gabrijelčič. The winning conceptual design was unanimously selected by the jury, which was chaired by Nikola Hajdin, President of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the architect of the New Railroad Bridge. The Belgrade Association of Architects also endorsed the project, assessing it as contemporary and relevant to the future skyline of Belgrade. The design was awarded the first prize by Hajdin's jury in 2005 and was officially selected in 2006. The bridge is a cable-stayed design with a single pylon. The foundation for the pylon is a circular diaphragm wall with 113 bored piles. The main span is constructed from 8,600 tons of bridge construction steel (grade S355J2+N), supported by 80 stay cables, and is counterbalanced by a post-tensioned, reinforced concrete back span of 200 m (660 ft). The approach towards New Belgrade is constructed as a 388m post-tensioned, reinforced concrete side span as a continuous beam box girder with a similar arrangement of deck as the back span. Component parts of the deck were manufactured in China and delivered in transportable units on a sea and river-route via Rotterdam through the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal to the pre-assembly yard next to the construction site at Mala Ciganlija in Belgrade. The stay cables used to support the bridge deck have a maximum length of approximately 373 m (1,224 ft), and in total, 1280 tons of high-grade steel are used for the 80 cables with up to 91 strands. The bridge is designed to significantly reduce traffic passing through the city centre, up to 40%, and the older Gazela Bridge. The traffic over the bridge is projected at 12,000 vehicles per hour. There is also a possibility that it will be used for the future Belgrade Metro lines. It is also planned to be part of the future Belgrade Inner City Semi-Ring Road. It will have three road lanes and a tram (light rail) track in each direction.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.