SNP80: Role of SNP Bridge in Bratislava Indispensable

Bratislava, August 1 (TASR) - The Slovak National Uprising (SNP) Bridge in Bratislava is not only an important land connection between the borough of Petrzalka and the Old Town Centre, but it's used by myriad cars, buses, cyclists, runners and pedestrians on a daily basis and belongs among the chief tourism magnets of the capital city, visited annually by about 200,000 tourists, TASR was told by Bratislava spokesperson Peter Bubla on Thursday. "It can be said that it's role is indispensable," stated Bubla. Until it was built in 1972, the only land bridge connecting the left and right banks of the Danube had been the Old Bridge. Such a state of affairs was natural in the pre-1970s era, when there was no reason for more bridges, seeing as the original Petrzalka was only a village. Once Petrzalka became a borough of the capital city and the construction site for the largest area of blocks of flats in the country, a need for more bridges arose. The planning of the transport across the Danube was marked by the erstwhile political socialist system, however, when residential area construction was guided by different values than today. "From a historical standpoint, the location of the SNP Bridge cannot be viewed in any way other than as the loss of genius loci of the originally striking suburban area. A synagogue on Rybne Namestie square, an architectural legacy from the late 19th century with an interesting Moorish design, was torn down," pointed out Bubla. The bridge, however, met its basic purpose - providing access to the Petrzalka bank to enable massive construction works on that side of the Danube. In terms of transport, the bridge brought considerable benefits, as the Old Bridge was not sufficient capacity-wise and it wasn't strategic to have only a single bridge over the Danube. "In the meantime, other bridges have been erected between Petrzalka and the rest of the city, but the SNP Bridge continues to serve as the transport route mainstay and maintains its importance," said Bubla. The SNP Bridge is an asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge with a total length of 430 metres, a height of 85 metres and a weight of 7,540 tonnes. Its steel construction is suspended from steel cables, connected on the Petržalka side to two pillars. Sitting atop the bridge is a restaurant in the shape of a flying saucer called the UFO, which can be accessed by an elevator or a staircase with 430 stairs. mf/mcs