Completion of Zezelj Bridge announced for November 2017 – No new deadline extensions to take place

According to the latest assessments of the works needed to complete the Zezelj Bridge and the previous announcements by officials, the construction of the bridge in Novi Sad should be completed by the end of 2017.

The problems with subcontractors and subsequent corrections of the price due to additional works have been causing the deadline to keep being extended, but it is expected that there will be no further delays and that the bridge might be completed in November 2017.

After the period of extremely cold weather which kept the works at the minimum, the number of workers and the machines of the Spanish-Italian consortium AZVI, in charge of the construction of the Zezelj Bridge, has noticeably increased.

The European Union, which participates with EUR 26.2 million in the construction of the bridge, has said that it is very important for the bridge to become operational as soon as possible, so as to secure the railway Corridor 10, connecting EU with the Balkans.

The new bridge is being built in place of the old Zezelj Bridge, which was destroyed during the 1999 NATO bombing, and the railway and road cargo transport has been carried out for the past seventeen years through a temporary bridge, which will be removed once the new bridge has been built.

The final works on the steel arches on the Backa and Srem side are in progress, whereas the preparation of the central load-bearing column is close to being completed. The column will be placed in the exact location occupied by the central column of the former bridge. Following the completion of these works, two arches, one with the length of 180 m and the height of 34 m, the other with the length of 220 m and the height of 47 m, will be mounted, with two traffic lanes, two railway tracks and two pedestrian lanes.

The Spanish-Italian consortium AZVI was put in charge of the job, and the estimated value of the works was EUR 45.3 million, the amount agreed in January 2011. An additional EUR 3 million has already been paid to the consortium for additional works, and it's possible that additional financial interventions will be needed. The project is co-financed by the European Union, which has paid EUR 26.2 million so far, the Province of Vojvodina (EUR 14.7 million) and the City of Novi Sad, which has set aside EUR 7.4 million for the works on the new bridge so far.

Grad Novi Sad

AZVI Novi Sad

Zezelj Bridge Novi Sad

construction of Zezelj Bridge

AZVI

Corridor 10