Nusle Bridge, Road-rail bridge in Prague 2, Czech Republic
Nusle Bridge is a 485-metre prestressed concrete viaduct with a reinforced concrete beam structure and four pillars, spanning the Nusle valley between Prague 2 and Prague 4. Its five spans measure 68.5 m (two) and 115.5 m (three), with the deck 26.5 m wide and 42.5 m above the valley. The metro tube inside has a trapezoidal cross-section, almost 6.5 m high with walls 30 to 110 cm thick.
Construction began in 1967 and ended in 1973, during the communist era in Czechoslovakia. After the political change in 1990, the bridge lost its original name honoring a communist leader and took its present name referring to the neighborhood below.
The bridge's nickname, "Suicide bridge", reflects a grim record: 200 to 300 people have jumped from it. Since 2011 they have been commemorated in the park below by Krištof Kintera's monument Of One's Own Volition. The railing, originally 1 m high, was raised to 2.7 m between 1996 and 1997 and topped with polished metal in 2007.
The bridge sits between the city center and southeastern districts, easy to spot when moving through Prague 2. Visitors looking for a view of the long span over the valley find vantage points from surrounding streets and parks around the Nusle neighborhood.
The metro tube's trapezoidal cross-section is nearly 6.5 m high with walls 30 to 110 cm thick. Because Soviet Ečs trains pressed 16 tonnes per axle on a deck designed for 10.5, a steel distribution grid weighing 822 tonnes was built into the bridge. Its 485 m length matched the wavelength of Prague radio's 639 kHz signal, so load tests were run at night while the station was off air.
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