Construction of the Valy bridge.
Valy bridge, which should be part of the D3 highway in the region of Kysuce in northern Slovakia, will become the tallest bridge in central Europe after completion.
The bridge will be 84 metres high - equal to a 33-storey building - and will have to feature windbreaks, which in Europe are used only in France and Croatia, said Milan Gajdoš, the general director of the National Highway Company (NDS) as cited by the TASR newswire.
Moreover, NDS will also install special devices to measure the wind speed. If the wind speed exceeds certain limits, transport on the bridge will be slowed down, with traffic of trucks to be organised in a different manner on this stretch in case of extreme weather.
“The investment into this stretch reaches almost €330 million,” said Gajdoš. “When it comes to traffic intensity, we expect 5,000 vehicles a day.”
The bridge will be part of a 12-km long stretch of the almost 60-km long D3 highway adjoining the D1 cross-country highway near Žilina and leading north towards Poland. This stretch connecting Svrčinovec with Skalité near the Polish borders should be put into operation already this year. The highway stretch will shorten the travel time by about nine minutes.
