Bridge Constructions

The new 946-meter long Kalocsa-Paks bridge is Hungary’s 20^th Duna bridge and the largest budget bridge construction megaproject of our group. It is the first extradosed bridge structure over the Duna in Hungary, and the largest of its kind. It consists of three structures: left floodplain bridge (220m), main river bridge (440m), and right floodplain bridge (286m).

The bridge cuts the Tolnai Duna Natura 2000 area in two halves, necessitating special measures to protect the surrounding environment. To achieve this, we employed thoughtful designing and special construction technologies: we forwarded the several thousand tons floodplain bridge structures to their place by short-track longitudinal push, and we built the river bridge using formwork travellers  and cantilever construction technology.

The old double-track railway bridge over the Warta River had to be dismantled and a new steel structure built on the substructure while maintaining continuous traffic on one track. The old bridge was an overhead lattice girder riveted arch bridge, and the new structure is an overhead girder bridge welded of high-strength steel. During construction, a temporary bridge structure was installed across the river. Our steel structure factory provided full corrosion protection for the bridge elements after trial assembly. The preassembled units were placed in position using a 300-ton crane.

The bridge spanning over the Dunajec River was constructed using the longitudinal push method, an increasingly popular technique for constructing pre-stressed bridge structures in Poland. Considering its size, the Kurów project is the third largest bridge of its kind in Poland. It is 602 meters long and over 17 meters wide. Within the project, main road 75 was upgraded to a GP (express road) class over a length of 2 km and an intersection of main road 75 with a local municipal road in Kurów was reconstructed. Service roads, bus bays, noise barriers, and pedestrian and bicycle paths were also constructed on both sides of the bridge.

The 150-year-old Southern Connecting Railway Bridge is Hungary’s most important and busiest railway connection across the Duna. The project involved renovating a 3-kilometer railway track, the outdated condition of the superstructures required the reconstruction of the structure and building a new third-track railway bridge.

The existing pillars were raised, and new abutments were built. The new structure, weighing nearly 10,000 tons, differs significantly from the old one. A special challenge was maintaining uninterrupted railway, local train, road, tram, and river traffic during the bridge’s demolition and construction. Central Europe’s two largest floating cranes, the Clark Ádám and the Hebo Lift 8, were employed during the site assembly.

This edifice is situated on the northern bypass of the M4 motorway in Szolnok, and it is a two-lane, 758-meter-long orthotropic steel girder bridge with eight spans. The mas of the M4 Tisza bridge is 9500 tons, its largest span yokes the Tisza riverbed with its 148 m span, this interspace is considered a record in the case of any girder bridge in Hungary. The bridge was named after Count Gyula Szapáry, the Hungarian Monarchy’s Prime Minister from 1890-1892.

The bridge structure was positioned using a pushing technique: both bridge decks were moved 782 meters into their final positions. The pushing was facilitated by a 24-meter-high mast cable tensioning system and a 54-meter long steel lattice truss. A specialty was that during peak construction, more than 100 workers were employed on the bridge.

The bridge, part of the M44 section, is Hungary’s fourth new four-lane road bridge over the Tisza, with a total length of 556 meters, including a 307-meter river bridge with a 152-meter central span. It has elliptic portal, that is why it is unique in Europe.

The construction used PERI systems, similar to those employed in the reconstruction of the Panama Canal; there are only a few similar structures not only in Europe but also worldwide. The deformed ellipse-shaped pylons and fan-shaped cable arrangement give the bridge a distinctive look. The pontoniers compare the structure to a covered wagon, the bridge-deck is suspended on stayed girder and fixed in a fan-shaped free cable arrangement to the pylons. The bridge’s pylons reach a final height of 41.6 meters.

The M44 expressway section between Lakitelek and Tiszakürt marked a significant step forward in domestic transportation. The construction of the unique new Tisza bridge was an important part of the project.

The Monostori Bridge, spanning the Komárom-Komárno border over the Duna, consists of five spans, three of which are over the river and two over the Slovak floodplain. At its opening, it was Hungary’s fourth-largest span bridge. The river span measures 252 meters, with the stiffening girder being 600 meters long, made of orthotropic steel deck with two main girders. The steel structure weighs 7500 tons. The stiffening girder was assembled in three stages using different technologies: segmental push, pulling by every 80-unit, and free assembly. The Clark Ádám floating crane was used for assistance.

The bridge earned the Hungarian Steel Structure Association’s 2021 Award, the National Federation of Hungarian Building Contractors’ 2021 Construction Excellence Award, and the ABF Slovakia’s Building of the Year award.

The total length of the 450-meter crossing includes:

• The bridge was designed as an orthotropic steel deck arch bridge
• The main river span is 98 meters long
• 1500 tons of steel structure were installed
• Of the two floodplain bridges, the right one is 87 meters long with two spans, and the left one is 261 meters long with six spans

The M44 expressway sections I and III between Tiszakürt and Kondoros involved extensive road development. Section I included the construction of a new 2×2 lane expressway over 20.5 kilometers, with several bridges, including the Körös Bridge, and junctions, as well as utility relocations.

We moved thousands of tons of steel structure on the Duna banks during the construction of the Klatsmányi Bridge. The bridge won architectural excellence awards.

At its opening, the Klatsmányi Bridge was Hungary’s fifth-largest span bridge, and the first basket-handle type arch bridge with an orthotropic steel deck and cable network suspension in the country. The required 2000 tons of steel superstructure and 1500 tons of auxiliary structure were assembled on-site within five months. Less than a year elapsed between the contract signing and the bridge’s test loading. The bridge construction earned the Hungarian Steel Structure Association’s 2018 Award, the Tierney Clark Award, and the National Federation of Hungarian Building Contractors’ 2019 Construction Excellence Award.