The Bridge of the 14th July ( ar, جسر 14 تموز) is a suspension bridge over the

Tigris The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

that carries vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The bridge carries Arbataash Tamuz (14th of July) street from the center of the city (formerly the

Green Zone The Green Zone ( ar, المنطقة الخضراء, translit=al-minṭaqah al-ḫaḍrā) is the most common name for the International Zone of Baghdad. It was a area in the Karkh district of central Baghdad, Iraq, that was the governmental ...

) south into the

Karrada Karrada ( ar, كرّادة ''Karrāda'') is an upper-class district of the city of Baghdad, Iraq. It has a mixed population of Muslims and Christians. It is one of the most religiously diverse areas of the city, and is one of the two major distri ...

peninsula. The bridge is named after July 14, 1958, the day in which the Hashemite monarchy was overthrown in a coup d'état. It is the only suspension bridge in Baghdad. The bridge has two lanes in each direction, but in practice only one lane is used because of the strict security checks. The suspension bridge has a span of 167.64 m (550 ft), of which the lateral openings are 83.82 m (275 ft) wide. Since the ground of Baghdad consists of alluvium, the anchor of the ropes does not provide enough support in order to withstand the tensile forces, so the bridge is a so-called self-anchored (spurious) suspension bridge. David B. Steinman was awarded the contract for designing the bridge in 1956, however the bridge was unable to start construction until 1961, due to the political circumstances in Iraq and the fact that Steinman died in 1960. The bridge is painted in the shade of green which Steinman preferred. In the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

the bridge was attacked on 9 February 1991 during ''Operation Desert Storm'', which killed three and injured six, causing large-scale damage to the bridge. The bridge was re-opened on 25 October 2003 after the fall of Saddam Hussein. However, following a bombing in Baghdad on 13 November 2003, it was closed until the middle of 2004 for safety reasons.

References

Bridges in Iraq Bridges over the Tigris River Buildings and structures in Baghdad Road bridges Suspension bridges Transport in Baghdad {{Iraq-bridge-struct-stub