Rehabilitation of historical bridges over the Danube in Budapest

ABSTRACT

This article gives an overview on the rehabilitation of historical Danube bridges, which are located in the UNESCO World Heritage part of Budapest: Széchenyi chain bridge, Margaret bridge, Liberty bridge, and Elizabeth bridge. The bridges are briefly introduced and then their rehabilitations are presented. The special aspects of the design of reconstruction are shown. Site measurements and advanced studies, which supported the rehabilitation in the design and construction phase, are discussed in the case of the two recently reconstructed bridges and for one planned case, while, in the case of the Elizabeth bridge, the old and the new structures are introduced.

KEYWORDS:

• Advanced models
• historical bridges
• load testing
• reconstruction
• site measurement
• steel structures

Acknowledgments

The authors of this article acknowledge the whole Hungarian bridge society for their efforts on the fields of research, design, construction, and maintenance to save the historical Danube bridges of Budapest for future generations.