On 11 June last, open house was held at the sites of the work to build the bridge over the Danube between the cities of Vidin, Bulgaria, and Calafat, Romania. More than 80 people, accompanied by authorities and the media, visited the location of the bridge work, which is being done by FCC.

The guests observed how the bridge is being built from a temporary peninsula, and they toured the site of the work being done in the navigable channel of the river, the free-trade zone facilities (where all the concrete segments needed to build the bridge and its flyovers are being cast) and some of the sites where related infrastructure work is being done (Novo Selo and Bregovo junctions, the goods station and the Kula flyover).

The biggest Bulgarian construction project, the second bridge over the Danube is a total of 1,951 metres long. The project consists in the construction of a combined bridge for vehicular and railway traffic. It contains four vehicle lanes, a single set of rails, a bicycle lane and two pavements for pedestrians and service uses. Also included in the project is the construction of the necessary infrastructure for vehicular and rail traffic; this includes a new goods station, seven new kilometres of rail, the refurbishment of the existing passenger station and the building of seven junctions.

The infrastructure forms part of Corridor IV, which joins Dresden, Germany, and Istanbul, Turkey. More than 600 people, 75% of whom are Bulgarian, are working on the construction project.

The budget for the bridge over the Danube and its accesses from the Bulgarian side is more than 162 million euro, and the job is being done with European grants under the ISPA (Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession) programme and with financing from the European Investment Bank, France and Germany.