Al-Sarafiya bridge, Steel truss bridge in Baghdad, Iraq

Al-Sarafiya Bridge carries a light-gray steel truss and arch structure over the Tigris, joining Waziriyah in the Adhamiyah district on the Rusafa bank with Utafiyah in the Karkh district. Its seven spans total 450 m over the water, with five spans of 58 m and two of 80 m; the roadway is 6 m wide and the railway deck 4 m. A pedestrian walkway with a diamond-lattice railing runs beside the road.

A truck bombing in 2007 caused major damage to the structure, which led to a complete reconstruction effort. The rebuilt crossing reopened to traffic in May 2008 after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki officiated the ceremony.

Locals call it the Iron Bridge, and residents of the nearby quarters also know it as the Alwaaziya or Aywadiya bridge, though Al-Sarafiya is the name that stuck. When it opened in 1952, Baghdadis watched a train cross the Tigris on a steel bridge for the first time, driven by the veteran locomotive driver Abd Abbas al-Mafraji.

The bridge carries a roadway and a separate pedestrian walkway, divided by a low concrete curb. It links Waziriyah in the Rusafa district with Utafiyah in the Karkh district. The 1990s conversion to two-way traffic reused rails from the former railway line.

The steel span was originally fabricated for Sydney, Australia, but the Iraqi Ministry of Works bought the structure and had it modified before erection. Its total length with approaches, 2,166 m, made it the longest steel bridge in the world at the time, surpassing a 1,500 m bridge over the Rhine.