President, EC, ambassadors, among the guests expected at the inauguration of the Braila bridge

The bridge built over the Danube in Brăila, the third suspension bridge in size in Europe, will be commissioned on July 6, the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Sorin Grindeanu, announced on Friday.

“I decided together with my colleagues, and with the local public authorities, and with my colleagues from CNAIR, and with the contractor or the companies that worked here, because it’s not just one thing, that the putting into circulation should be done as soon as possible we can and that means July 6. On July 6, we will be able to put into circulation, on the Măcin variant. The works are almost 100% completed. There are still a few things to fix. For the rest, everything is completed”, declared Sorin Grindeanu after a visit to the Brăila bridge.

Asked if President Klaus Iohannis will come to the inauguration, the Minister of Transport said that the beneficiary, CNAIR, sends invitations to the Presidential Administration, Parliament, the Prime Minister, the European Commission and at least two ambassadors, of Italy and Japan, “because they are companies originating from that country”. “We have sent an invitation or we will also send it to the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Salvini, we will see if he will come, maybe not on July 6 or maybe when the other part is finished,” Grindeanu said, when asked if the Italian Prime Minister was invited.

The construction of the suspension bridge over the Danube began in 2017. Approximately 81,000 kilometers of steel wire were used for its construction, the total weight of the two main cables being 6,700 tons. The metal deck consists of 86 segments with a total weight of 20,800 tons, and each has an average weight of 250 tons. The length of the bridge is 1,974 meters, of which 1,120 meters represent the central opening, to which are added two lateral openings of 489 meters on the bank from Brăila and 364 meters on the bank from Tulcea. When completed, it will be the third bridge in Europe in terms of central span and length. The length of the main Brăila – Jijila road is over 19 kilometers, and the length of the connecting road with DN22 Smârdan – Măcin is over 4.3 kilometers.

The builder of the Galati – Brăila Expressway is the SA&PE Construct – Spedition UMB – Tehnostrade Association, the value of the contract being 2.375 billion lei including VAT.