Splavarska brv (Timber Rafting Footbridge) over Drava in Maribor

In 2011, the city municipality of Maribor held an international architectural and structural design competition for a new footbridge over the Drava River. Designed for the purpose of European Capital of Culture, the bridge for pedestrians and cyclists would connect the left bank of Lent with the right bank of Tabor. The connection is located near the Main/Old Bridge, whose three steel arches are the main characteristic of the Maribor promenades. Spanish designers from Madrid won the competition with a bridge with three steel spans and wooden cladding.

Interesting is the method of foundation of the river supports in the Drava, 8 meters deep at this place. The piles are made from pontoons; in the water part, the d 150 cm concrete piles received a protective steel casing with a diameter of d 133 cm and a thickness of 5 mm, which extends a bit into the riverbed bottom. A particularly innovative solution was used to create the underwater head of the column, a mushroom-shaped concrete spacer, which is hidden under water and was made in a lost steel formwork with dimensions of 11.5 m x 4.00 m. The boat-shaped underwater head carries a bunch of steel columns, an architectural concept of river supports.

The implemented concept of the steel superstructure remained identical to that of the basic project, i.e. a continuous steel structure over three spans of 48 + 42 + 42 = 132 m. The shape of the deck structure has changed from two welded I girders to two truss girders.