The asphalt surface of one of Europe’s longest suspension bridges is being relaid just over a year after its completion.
On 6 August traffic in both directions was diverted to one half of the Braila Bridge to allow re-asphalting works to take place. The same operation had been carried out – in reverse – the previous month.
Romania’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructure said that asphalt sections of the deck had been relaid on three occasions since bridge completion, and that the issue was yet to be resolved.
Shortly after the nearly 2km-long suspension bridge over the Danube opened on 6 July 2023, there were reports that bumps had appeared on the approach sections of the bridge, which at the time the authorities blamed on heavy goods vehicles not respecting the 7.5t-limit summer restrictions.
The asphalt surface is not the only issue to have affected the third longest suspension bridge in Europe.
In March this year subsidence reappeared on the access ramp to the bridge approach on the Braila side, an issue that had supposedly been fixed in September 2023.
Two months after the crossing’s official opening, social media posts led to 100,000 bolts being checked in the bridge’s safety barriers, 401 of which required tightening.
The Braila bridge is yet to be officially received by CNAIR, the Romanian National Road Infrastructure Company.
Traffic restrictions are expected to remain in place until the end of August.