Buna River to have Albania’s first movable bridge

TIRANA, Nov. 1 – Albania will have its first movable bridge on the northern Buna River by next December. The bridge which is being built under an Islamic Development Bank-funded project, worth 7.2 million dollars, will turn the Buna River in Shkodra, the country’s biggest northern city, into a fully navigable river, enabling the passage of boats.
The construction of the new bridge, just few meters away from the old one will give a final solution to the problematic traffic on the bridge, and ease access to local tourist sites and the Muriqan border checkpoint with Montenegro.
Inspecting the reconstruction works during a recent visit, Transport and Public Works Minister Sokol Olldashi said “this is the only bridge in the Balkans with this opening system and after its completion, it will be the River Buna’s turn to be deepened.”
The new movable bridge which operates on two electromechanical systems with the opening and closure taking 3.5 to 4 minutes if done electronically and 15 minutes if manually in cases of a possible failure, will be 275.5 metres long and 13.5 metres wide. The two-lane bridge is 6 meters from the river’s surface water level, according to Transport Ministry data.
The new bridge secures uninterrupted flow of traffic, reduces vehicle operating cost, saves time and brings about overall economic improvements through enhanced accessibility and mobility. In addition, the new bridge will allow waterways traffic on the Buna river with its movable design, experts say.
The bridge’s reconstruction started in May 2008.
“The river has extraordinary importance not only for Shkodra, but all of Albania because it is very important for the connections with Montenegro. The Montenegrin government is very interested in the completion of this bridge”, Premier Berisha said in the inauguration ceremony two years ago. He added that Buna River has the perspective of returning into a navigable river, as it had been until the end of XIX century.