Štip starts construction of new bridge on the Bregalnica near Novo Selo
New 60 m × 7 m bridge near Novo Selo will join a 3.2 km bypass paid with a Hungarian loan and serve traffic toward the Radoviš–Strumica expressway.
Construction has begun on a new road bridge over the Bregalnica River near the Kežovica spa, in the Novo Selo area of Štip. Together with a new bypass at the city's entrance from Skopje, the crossing will serve as the main route over the river for vehicles heading toward the expressway to Radoviš and Strumica.
Work, timetable and technical details
The works are being carried out by the Štip-based company Aktiva, which specialises in iron-structure bridges. The project's chief site manager, civil engineer Aneta Maksimova, says the complete fabrication and assembly of the bridge should be finished within a month.
"The final phase of the steel structure is underway, and at the same time the main pillars that will support the bridge structure are being installed in the river and on its bank. We had a short pause in the works because the investor wanted the bridge to be at a higher level, since beneath it, at the prescribed height, the existing road to the main Štip landfill 'Treshthena Skala' must pass. But that problem was resolved in a short time," Maksimova said.
The bridge will be 60 metres long and 7 metres wide, and will include sidewalks on both sides as an extension of the footpaths already being built on the road leading to the river toward the new Prebeg residential-industrial zone and the Pluzhdino area in Novo Selo, where the regional road to the Radoviš expressway runs.
Štip Municipality Mayor Ivan Jordanov described the structure as an important connection with both local and regional significance. "Štip Municipality allocated 1 million euros for the bridge, and the bypass, which should connect the two sides of the river with a road 3.2 kilometres long near the new residential-industrial zone in Štip, will cost 2 million euros. The funds are provided from the Hungarian loan. Two years ago, a new pumping station for water supply was also built at this location with capacity to meet the needs of the existing settlements and the new ones planned in the 'Prebeg' residential-industrial zone," Jordanov said.
This will be the seventh bridge over the Bregalnica within Štip Municipality. It is designed as a road bridge with the required load-bearing capacity for all passenger vehicles, buses and heavy trucks. Municipal officials say that after this structure is completed, construction will begin on another bridge elsewhere in the city to link the neighbourhoods of Balkanska and Makedonka with Babi, Star Karaorman and settlements in the Municipality of Karbinci.
Photo: СДК.МК)
