Danube Bridge
The Danube Bridge (formerly known as the Friendship Bridge;Bulgarian: Мост на дружбата, Most na druzhbata or, more commonly, Дунав Mост, Dunav most; Romanian: Podul Prieteniei or Podul de la Giurgiu) is a steel truss bridge over the Danube River connecting the Bulgarian bank to the south with the Romanian bank to the north and the cities of Ruse and Giurgiu respectively. It is one of only two bridges connecting Romania and Bulgaria, the other one being the New Europe Bridge between the cities of Vidin and Calafat. The Danube bridge can be reached by using public transport - bus lines 4,11,12 and 28.
History
Opened on 20 June 1954 and designed by Soviet engineers V. Andreev and N. Rudomazin, the bridge is 2,223.52 m (7,295.0 ft) long and was, at the time, the only bridge over the Danube shared by Bulgaria and Romania, with other traffic being served by ferries and land routes. Decorations were designed by Bulgarian architect Georgi Ovcharov. The bridge has two decks; a two lane motorway and a railway. Sidewalks for pedestrians are also included. The central part of the bridge (85 m) is mobile and can be lifted for oversized boats passage. The maintenance of the mobile part is Romania's responsibility and is periodically checked. The bridge was constructed in two and a half years with the aid of the Soviet Union.
New Europe Bridge
The New Europe Bridge, previously known as the Danube Bridge 2 (Bulgarian: Дунав мост 2, Dunav most 2), and informally called the Calafat-Vidin Bridge (Bulgarian: Мост Видин–Калафат, Most Vidin–Kalafat; Romanian: Podul Calafat–Vidin), is a road and rail bridge between the cities of Vidin, Bulgaria and Calafat, Romania. It is the second bridge on the shared section of the Danube between the two countries. It is a cable-stayed bridge and was built by the Spanish company Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas, at the cost of €226 million. It was officially opened with a ceremony held on the 14th of June 2013. The first vehicles were allowed to cross the bridge after midnight, on the 15th of June 2013.
History and geography
A bridge between Calafat (in Romania) and Vidin (in Bulgaria) had been discussed since the late 1970s, but the plan was abandoned over and over again. For centuries there had been no bridges crossing the Danube river between Bulgaria and Romania since the destruction of Constantine's Bridge, which was built by the Romans, until the Giurgiu–Ruse Friendship Bridge was built and opened in 1954. During the late 1990s, Bulgaria had to close its border with Yugoslavia, because of the war in Kosovo, followed by an international economic boycott against Yugoslavia. This caused great damage to the already weak economy in northwestern Bulgaria. In fact, the whole country became isolated, since Bulgarians had always been relying on the road through Serbia for their transit transport to Western Europe.
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