Another road and cycle bridge over the River Ipoly has been opened between Hungary and Slovakia.
The 58m-long single steel span and single carriageway bridge connects the nearby towns of Ipolydamasd in Hungary and Helemba in Slovakia.
The bridge was constructed with around €6.7 million of European Union funding, according to local media reports.
During the official opening of the bridge at the end of July, Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, said the new bridge is one of three over the River Ipoly that will be opened this year. He said that the number of border crossings has increased from 22 in 2010 to 37 with the latest bridge opening and it replaces a structure that lost in a flood in 2001.
Construction of the bridge and connecting roads on was done by the Hungarian and Slovakian divisions of French group Colas. Work was completed in three stages, with the first stage, that of the bridge, being done by Colas Közlekedésépítő, the group’s Hungarian division.
Stage two, a 540m-long access road to the bridge on the Hungarian side was done by Colas Út, Colas’ Hungarian road construction company. In stage three, Colas Slovakia built the 175m connecting road on the Slovak side.
The cycle path on the bridge is part of the EuroVelo6 international cycle route network.
The bridge, however, has a vehicle weight restriction of 3.5 tonnes, meaning it will be for light traffic only, such as passenger cars.
