Branko's Bridge

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Branko's Bridge
Branko's bridge aerial view.
Official name	Brankov most
Design	D. Dragojević
Longest span	261 m
Total length	450 m
AADT	90,000 vehicles
Opening date	1957

Branko's bridge (Serbian: Бранков мост/Brankov most) is the second-largest bridge (after Gazela) of Belgrade, Serbia, across Sava river, connecting the city center with New Belgrade.

The bridge was built in 1957^[1] after World War II, replacing the former King Alexander I bridge that was opened on December 16, 1934 and blown up in 1941.^[2] It has dual carriageway with three lanes in both directions; actually, it consists of two separate constructions in each direction, and the second was finished in 1979.^[3]. It is 450 m long, made as continuous steel box girder, with central span of 261 m and side spans of 81.5 m each. It is crossed by nearly 90,000 vehicles daily, and traffic congestions are frequent.^[4]

A German company MAN is behind the original project of the bridge. Belgrade based "Mostprojekt" company had done the project to double the bridge capacity in the 70s.Head of the project team was D. Dragojević.^{[citation needed]}

Bicycle elevator on the Old Belgrade bank of Sava river

The name of the bridge is unofficial, and seems to owe it to a bizarre chain of events. Its official name during the communist rule was "Brotherhood and unity bridge" (Most bratstva i jedinstva), but that name never caught up: it was called "bridge in Branko's street" (named after Branko Radičević, Serbian romanticist poet) or "Savski most". However, when another writer, Branko Ćopić, committed a suicide by jumping from the bridge in 1984, the current name started circulating and eventually caught up; it is still not clear after which Branko it was named. ^[5]^[6]