Pančevo Bridge

Pančevo Bridge Панчевачки мост Pančevački most
Sideview of the bridge from the right riverside
Official name	Панчевачки мост Pančevački most
Characteristics
Total length	1,526.4 m
Longest span	162 m
History
Opened	November 7, 1946

Pančevo Bridge or colloquially Pančevac (Serbian: Панчевачки мост, Pančevački most) is a bridge over the Danube in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It was named after the northern Serbian city of Pančevo (in Vojvodina) which is connected to Belgrade by the road continuing from the bridge. Until December 2014 it was the only bridge over the Danube in Belgrade, when another bridge called Pupin Bridge opened further upstream in the municipality of Zemun connecting it to the Banat side of Belgrade.

The bridge is located in the Belgrade municipality of Palilula, which is the only municipality in the city that lies on both banks of the Danube. Geographically, it connects two large regions of Serbia, Šumadija and Banat (Pančevački Rit). The bridge approaches begin well back from the bridge itself in the neighborhoods of Bogoslovija (roundabout at Mije Kovačevića street) and Ada Huja (Višnjička street) and direct approach begins from the Boulevard of Despot Stefan. The bridge spans the neighborhood of Viline Vode, the Danube (at approximately kilometre 1,166 of the river ) and reaches the Banat side in the neighbourhood of Krnjača, between the sub-neighborhoods of Blok Braća Marić and Blok Branko Momirov.

Construction of the original bridge began in 1933. On October 27, 1935 it was inaugurated by the Prince regent of Yugoslavia, Pavle Karađorđević and named after the still minor King of Yugoslavia, Petar II (Most Kralja Petra II). After the German attack on Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941 in the course of the World War II, the Yugoslav army command decided to blow up all three existing bridges in Belgrade (two over the Sava and one over the Danube) in a vain attempt to slow down the German Army advancement. The Bridge of King Petar II was destroyed on the night of April 10 and 11 1941.