Bridges and Viaducts

LIMSKA DRAGA VIADUCT

The Lim Channel bay cuts deep into the mainland along the Limska Draga valley and extends for a length of 9 km, all the way to the City of Pazin. Around the 4th kilometre from the end of the bay, the A9 Highway (used to be State Road No. 21) crosses the valley on its viaduct that is 552 m long and rises 125 m above the valley floor. The viaduct is harmoniously incorporated into the landscaping ambiance and it can be considered a tourist attraction. Even more so because of the proximity of the ruins of the old City of Dvigrad. The remains of the city date all the way back to the Roman times, perhaps even prior to that. The Lim Channel is also known for its rich gastronomy offer featured in several high category restaurants. The viaduct was completed after 30 months of construction and opened for traffic in June 1991. The bridge was designed by IPZ Zagreb, and the responsible designer-author was Ivan Dumbović, B.Sc.Eng. (1936-2016).

The viaduct is a girder type bridge with a steel box-shaped cross section superstructure with 80+100+160+100+80 m spans. It rests on 4 reinforced concrete pillars 38, 46, 80 and 96 m in height on a shallow rock base. The total width of the viaduct is 12.1 m with the roadway taking up 7.1 m. During the construction of the superstructure, 7,100 m3 of concrete, 950 tons of armature and 2,400 tons of steel were used. The viaduct was constructed by the construction company Viadukt from Zagreb (concrete works), Đuro Đaković from Slavonski Brod (assembly) and the steel construction was delivered by Goša from Smederevska Palanka. The facility is managed by the company Bina Istra d.d.

Future plans, as a part of the A9 Highway construction, up to the full profile, call for a parallel second roadway construction. In order to experience the Limska Draga viaduct in all its beauty and magnitude, you should take the side road from Kanfar in the direction of the ruins of Dvigrad, and then walk a kilometre or two to the base of the viaduct.

BRIDGE ACROSS THE LIKA RIVER IN KOSINJ

The meandering underground Lika River runs through the Kosinj valley, one of the most beautiful valleys in Croatia. Gornji and Donji Kosinj are the well-known settlements nestled along the edges of the valley. An interesting fact pertaining to Kosinj is that the Frankopan counts had a printing house there at the end of the 15th century where they printed the Glagolitic breviary in 1491 – the first printed book on the area of Croatia, only thirty years after the invention of the printed media.

The Lika River flows from the Kruščica reservoir lake and at the narrowest section of the valley, by the village of Kosinj, a very beautiful and harmonious three-arch stone bridge extends across it. A wooden bridge stood there until 1915 when it was damaged by floods. It had been built at the time of the Military Frontier. The designer of the existing bridge, engineer Milivoj Frković (1887 - 1946), advocated for its construction for 17 years. The bridge was finally completed in 1936. Engineer Frković was the author and designer of several significant bridges built during the first half of the 20th century in Croatia. His bridges are distinguished by their harmonious lines and details, such as the bridges in Sisak, Crikvenica, one close to Gospić, Novi Vinodolski, Karlovac and Zagreb. In addition, he mentored some prominent bridge-designing engineers (Tonković, Vukuša and others).

The total length of the Kosinj Bridge, with the abutments and the support walls, is 97 m while the length of the bridge itself is 64 m. The width of the bridge is 6.4 m; the roadway is 5.5 m, and the stone fence is 2 x 0.45 m. The width of the three semi-circular arches of the main openings is 18.2 m. They were made of cut stone with simple, but impressive, moulding spandrels. The pillars of the bridge were perfectly designed with cylindrical openings above them. What makes the bridge special is the fact that during great floods, the Lika River rises as much as 8 m (1938) above the roadway. The bridge was constructed to handle such incidents. Its esthetical and engineering value has also been confirmed by the European Council of Civil Engineers. You must experience the beauty of this bridge by seeing it for yourself.

Zvonimir-Zdenko Šimunjak