Komarno bridge on schedule despite cost and environmental protests

Slovakia’s transport minister said he will do everything possible to finish on time a new bridge connecting Komano with the Hungarian town of Komarom. Construction started last year on the €117 million bridge over the Danube River between the Hungarian town of Komarom and the Slovak town of Komarno. Around 85% of the cost of the bridge - designed by Hungarian engineering firm Pont-Terv - will be covered by European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility. Completion is planned for winter 2019. Transport m
July 13, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
You say Komarno, I say Komarom: let’s not call the whole bridge off (photo courtesy Pont-Terv engineering)
Slovakia’s transport minister said he will do everything possible to finish on time a new bridge connecting Komano with the Hungarian town of Komarom.

Construction started last year on the €117 million bridge over the Danube River between the Hungarian town of Komarom and the Slovak town of Komarno.

Around 85% of the cost of the bridge - designed by Hungarian engineering firm Pont-Terv - will be covered by 1116 European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility. Completion is planned for winter 2019.

Transport minister Árpád Érsek made his comments during a recent on-site inspection of the cable stayed bridge and amid protestors concerned over the project’s costs as well environmental concerns about the planned bypass around Komarno.
 
The new bridge was rejected by local residents in their petition during planning, according to local media.

It was announced in mid-2016 that the Hungarian companies Hidepito and Meszaros es Meszaros had won the tender for the 600m bridge but with a price tag of just over €91 million, according to Hungarian media. It was also reported at the time that the project had suffered several delays because of changes to procurement rules in Hungary.

Hungary’s National Infrastructure Development Company (NIF) issued and awarded the tender. The new bridge will be around 200m from the steel Elizabeth Bridge.

In March last year, the 2465 European Commission approved around €100 million towards the estimated €117 million for the project. Hungary will get €52.5 million and Slovakia will receive €47.6 million under the EU's Connecting Europe Facility.

The two cities, although divided by the Danube, have at times been one city under various central European kingdoms.

Komárno is Slovakia's principal port on the Danube. It is also the centre of the Hungarian community in Slovakia, which makes up around 60% of the town's population.

Hungary’s Komárom and Slovakia’s Komárno are also connected by a more recently built so-called lifting bridge.

Road Structures

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Colas and He-Do win Jaszbereny bypass
    April 27, 2020
    The 4.5-km bypass will be built between Hungary’s number 31 and 32 main roads.
    Read More
  • Making roads safer for the young
    February 27, 2018
    Children are at serious risk on Europe’s road network. This is the finding of a new report from the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC). According to the ETSC’s analysis of crash data, more than 8,000 children aged 0-14 years have been killed in road traffic collisions over the last 10 years in the European Union. Half of the children killed were travelling in cars, a third were walking and 13% were cycling, with one in every 13 child deaths in the European Union being the result of a road collision.
    Read More
  • East End Crossing Project—Availability payment P3 in action
    July 14, 2017
    Indiana exercised its authority to use a P3 contract when it partnered with Kentucky for new bridges across the Ohio River. Barney Allison and John Smolen* explain the groundbreaking availability payment deal. Earlier this year, traffic began rolling over the new tolled Lewis and Clark Bridge spanning the Ohio River from northern Kentucky to southern Indiana. The cable-stayed bridge is part of the award-winning Ohio Bridges Project to untangle traffic within the greater metropolitan area of Louisville, Kent
    Read More
  • Italy’s horrific bridge collapse is a sign of a wider problem
    January 7, 2019
    The shocking collapse of a major highway bridge in the Italian city of Genoa has highlighted a major problem with regard to poor infrastructure condition in the country. Causing multiple fatalities, the cable-stayed Morandi Bridge suffered a spectacular failure of a central support. Homes have had to be evacuated and it seems likely that the bridge, opened in 1967, will now have to be demolished. However, warnings had been given. The unusual bridge design, with its thin deck and reinforced concrete stays
    Read More

Highlighted Content