Most Josefa Straky, Road bridge in Mělník, Czech Republic.
Most Josefa Straky is a steel beam road bridge with an intermediate deck crossing the Elbe between Mělník and Hořín. It is 254 metres long, its longest span measures 63 metres, and it rests on the original stone piers of the 1888 bridge. The welded steel structure was supplied by ČKD Slaný.
Constructed in 1938 on the site of an earlier bridge from 1888, this structure represents the first fully welded bridge construction in the Czech Republic, marking a significant milestone in engineering techniques.
Named after Josef Straka, an Olympic rower from Mělník who lived from 1904 to 1976, the bridge honors local sporting heritage and maintains its status as a protected cultural monument of the Czech Republic.
The bridge serves local traffic between Mělník and surrounding communities, having undergone major reconstructions between 2014 and 2018 to extend its operational lifespan by at least fifty years with modern safety features.
During the 2018 reconstruction a ferry carried pedestrians and cyclists in place of the closed bridge and transported 52,000 people. The work also required removing steel plates welded onto the structure in the 1970s, which pushed the reopening back by several weeks.
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