Dry Bridge () is a bridge in

Zrenjanin Zrenjanin ( sr-Cyrl, Зрењанин, ; ; ; ; ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Central Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The city urban area has a population of 67,129 inh ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. It currently does not span any physical obstacle, since the flow of the river under it was diverted.

History

The bridge was built in 1962 by project engineer Rada Janjatov, as a

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

. Its purpose was to connect Zrenjanin city center with Mala Amerika quarter. Two holding towers, one on the north side and the other on the south side, are made of

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

and

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

. The northern tower is a 23-meter-high pylon, while the southern tower is A-shaped and 16 meters high. The suspension cable is made of 102 steel wires. In 1985, city authorities decided to fill in the secondary bed of the

Begej The Bega or Begej (; ; ; , formerly ''Kistemes''), is a 244 km (152 mile) long river in Romania (169 km; 105 mi.) and Serbia (75 km; 47 mi.). It rises in the Poiana Ruscă Mountains in Romania, part of the Carpathian M ...

river. A dike between two lakes of the former

bed was built at the bridge site, and 23 years after being built, Dry Bridge lost its purpose. the bridge still stands, although rusty and in bad condition. The city authorities plan to demolish the bridge since it does not have any purpose and is unsafe. Some residents claim that Dry Bridge has become an ironic symbol of

, and should not be demolished, on the basis that it is one of only a few bridges in the world that does not span any kind of physical obstacle; Trinity Bridge in

Crowland Crowland (modern usage) or Croyland (medieval era name and the one still in ecclesiastical use; cf. ) is a town and civil parish in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated between Peterborough and Spalding. Crowland ...

, England, is another smaller, older example.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Image of the bridge

About the bridge (In Serbian)

Suspension bridges in Serbia Zrenjanin Buildings and structures in Vojvodina Bridges in Serbia Yugoslav Serbian architecture