Solkan Bridge


The Solkan Bridge is a arch bridge over the Soča River near Nova Gorica in western Slovenia. With an arch span of, it is the world's longest stone arch railroad bridge. It holds this record because later construction technology used reinforced concrete to build bridges. It was originally built to carry the Bohinj Railway in the time of the Vienna Secession, between 1900 and 1905, and officially opened in 1906.

Description

The bridge was designed by the architect Rudolf Jaussner and engineer Leopold Oerley, initially with an stone arch, and built in 1904 and 1905. Its central span was built by the Viennese construction company Brüder Redlich und Berger and the end viaducts were built by the Italian construction company Sard, Lenassi & Co, incorporated in Gorizia for this project by the Italian engineer Giovanni Battista Sard of Turin. Initially a steel arched bridge was planned at this location, but later they decided to build a stone bridge instead.
In the spring of 1904 the builders had to change the project because of the light soil and increased the arch to. It is built of 4,533 stone blocks.
On July 19, 1906, the Bohinj Railway from Jesenice to Gorizia was inaugurated.
In August 1916, during the First World War, Austrian soldiers destroyed the bridge as they left Solkan to prevent the invading forces from using it. After the 12th Isonzo battle the Austrian army built a steel construction where the bridge once stood. After the war in April 1925 the Italians started to build a new bridge, which was finished in 1927. This bridge was very similar to the first one, with the exception of having only four sub-arches instead of the original five.
During the Second World War, the bridge suffered only minimal damage in aerial bombing. On August 10, 1944, bombs missed the bridge; on March 15, 1945, a bomb that hit the bridge did not explode.

Literature

  • Gorazd Humar: Kamniti velikan na Soči. Nova Gorica: Branko, 1996,.
  • Gorazd Humar, Bogdan Kladnik: Slovenski Mostovi: Bridges of Slovenia. Part 2: Štajerska, Dolenjska, Gorenjska, Prekmurje. Ljubljana: Zaklad, 2002,.
  • Eduard Jordan :
  • Walther Schaumann: Die Bahnen zwischen Ortler und Isonzo 1914 - 1918. Vom Friedensfahrplan zur Kriegsfahrordnung. Vienna: Bohmann Verlag, 1991.