Bridges of Budapest

The final structure spawns over two branches of the Danube with Szentendre Island in the middle where for environmental protection there is no exit.

The eastern part of the bridge is cable stayed and, as it is on the main branch, that part allows safe passage for international river traffic, for all vessels that are currently authorized to pass through Budapest because of their manageability.

A new, temporary steel structure was built on the bases, from military materials which enabled rapid construction.

It was finally demolished in 2008, when the bases were completely renovated and a new steel structure was placed onto them.

The bridge connects Buda (the western half of the city) with Óbudai Island.

It provided railway track connection to the ship factory that operated on the island.

In the beginning only a port made transit possible from Óbudai Island to the western bank of the Danube.

In 1884 it was replaced by a steel bridge, the middle of which could be lifted to allow ships pass.

The reason for this unusual geometry lies in the fact the small extension to connect to Margaret Island was hastily inserted into the original design, but not built until two decades later due to lack of funds.

[1] It was divided into two during the reconstruction so that all bus and tram traffic could pass it, except at the occasions of reconnecting the ground rails to the ones used on the bridge at the next stage.

In the first phase, the public transport and pedestrians used the southern side, while the different parts of the north were simultaneously disassembled and reconstructed.

The first bridge across the Danube in Budapest, it was designed by the English engineer William Tierney Clark in 1839, after Count István Széchenyi's initiative in the same year, with construction supervised locally by Scottish engineer Adam Clark (no relation).

Pictures and salvaged parts of the old bridge can be seen on the grass in front of the Museum of Transport in City Park.

The top of the four masts are decorated with large bronze statues of the Turul, a falcon-like bird, prominent in ancient Hungarian mythology.

The monochrome photography of the time did not show what shade of green its former colour was exactly.

During the 2007–2009 complete reconstruction,[2] all war damages of shape were repaired and a steel structure replaced the concrete sustaining the road lanes and tramways, thus the bridge was freed from significant weight.

The bridge spans the northern end of the narrower branch of the Danube bordering Csepel Island.

A second bridge serving the newly built commuter rail line was also opened in 1951 next to it.

In the 1920s the transit for ships was made possible across the narrower branch of the Danube, and the dam was demolished.

During a restoration of the bridge in 1978 the commuter rail line crossing it was disestablished, and the infrastructure serving the rail-cargo was reduced to one track.