The Servia High Bridge () is one of the longest bridges in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, with a length of 1,372 m. Construction began in 1972 along with the

artificial lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

and was completed in 1975. Designed by

Riccardo Morandi Riccardo Morandi visiting Palace of Justice Competition. Riccardo Morandi (1 September 1902 – 25 December 1989) was an Italian civil engineer best known for his innovative use of reinforced concrete and prestressed concrete, although over the ...

, was constructed from a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

Xekte SA–Skapaneus SA. The bridge is a part of the GR-3/ E65 (

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Lamia Lamia (; ), in ancient Greek mythology, was a child-eating monster and, in later tradition, was regarded as a type of night-haunting spirit or "daimon". In the earliest myths, Lamia was a beautiful queen of ancient Libya who had an affair with ...

Larissa Larissa (; , , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 148,562 in the city proper, according to the 2021 census. It is also the capital of the Larissa ...

Kozani Kozani (, ) is a town in northern Greece, capital of Kozani (regional unit), Kozani regional unit and of Western Macedonia. It is located in the western part of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, in the northern part of the Aliakmonas, Aliakmonas riv ...

Florina Florina (, ''Flórina''; known also by some alternative names) is a town and municipality in the mountainous northwestern Macedonia, Greece. Its motto is, 'Where Greece begins'. The town of Florina is the capital of the Florina regional uni ...

) and is located 15 km southeast of the city of

and 5 km northwest of Servia. It is one of the two bridges of the lake; the other is the Rymnios Bridge to the southwest near Aiani and is smaller, with 615 m length.

Structural issues raised in 2020

In January 2020, and after visual inspections conducted by professor Stergios Mitoulis o
infrastructuResilience
it was found that ageing, environmental stressors and increase in the traffic loads on the bridge potentially led to safety issues. Amid these concerns, traffic restrictions were enforced on the bridge. These preventive measures aimed to reduce the maximum load on the bridge and included banning vehicles heavier than 50 tonnes and reducing the vehicle speed limit to 40 kilometers per hour. Professor Mitoulis noted following the inspection of the bridge that there were “''vertical displacements on some of the bridge spans that are visible''” and that “''central simply supported segments of the deck are not well connected to the balanced cantilevers of the deck and hence there is a risk of falling''.” Professor Mitoulis also explained that the simply supported spans need to be connected to the balanced cantilevers, whilst the movement of the latter seems to be the main issue that needs urgently addressing. Further studies included a recent publication The bridge had been inspected in the past from the relevant ministry in 1995 after the

earthquake, and again in 2012.

Gallery

File:aliakmonas bridge.jpg , The bridge of Polyphytos lake. File:Polyfytos lake.jpg , Polyphytos lake.

References

Road bridges in Greece Kozani (regional unit) Bridges completed in 1975 Bridges in Western Macedonia {{Greece-bridge-struct-stub