The John Paul II Bridge (New Pulawy bridge) is an

arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...

over the

Vistula The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...

River in

Puławy Puławy (, also written Pulawy) is a city in eastern Poland, in Lesser Poland's Lublin Voivodeship, at the confluence of the Vistula and Kurówka Rivers. Puławy is the capital of Puławy County. The city's 2019 population was estimated at 47,417 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. With its

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

main

span Span may refer to: Science, technology and engineering * Span (unit), the width of a human hand * Span (engineering), a section between two intermediate supports * Wingspan, the distance between the wingtips of a bird or aircraft * Sorbitan ester ...

of , it is the longest arch bridge in Poland. The bridge consists of two symmetrical steel arches that rise across the span. The deck is hung from the arches with 112 steel rods. The bridge is named after

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

and was completed on 11 July 2008. The bridge was built in the first stage of Puławy bypass, long, which is part of the future

Expressway S12 (Poland) Expressway S12 or express road S12 (in Polish ''droga ekspresowa S12'') is a major road in Poland which has been planned to run from Piotrków Trybunalski, through Radom, Lublin and Chełm, to the border crossing with Ukraine at Dorohusk. The com ...

leading towards the Polish border with

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. The

European Regional Development Fund The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is one of the European Structural and Investment Funds allocated by the European Union. Its purpose is to transfer money from richer regions (not countries), and invest it in the infrastructure and se ...

had contributed towards the financing of the bridge construction.

References

External links

*
John Paul II Bridge in Polish Bridges database (in Polish)
Road bridges in Poland Through arch bridges Bridges completed in 2008 Bridges in Puławy (city) 2008 establishments in Poland {{Poland-bridge-struct-stub