Branko's bridge

Branko's Bridge Бранков мост Brankov most
Branko's bridge at night
Official name	Бранков мост / Brankov most
Characteristics
Total length	450 m
Longest span	261 m
History
Opened	1957
Statistics
Daily traffic	90,000 vehicles

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

The bridge was built in 1957, replacing the former chain-stayed (built by the Société de Construction des Batignolles) that was opened on December 16, 1934 and blown up in 1941. The bridge actually uses lower parts of the former bridge's pylons (decorated by Ivan Meštrović in Serbo-Byzantium style) as outer constraints for its two secondary spans. 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. 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.

German company MAN is behind the original project of the bridge. Belgrade-based "Mostprojekt" company executed the project of doubling the bridge capacity in the 1970s. Head of the project team was Danilo Dragojević.

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" (Sava bridge). 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.