Kossuth Bridge

The Kossuth Bridge or Kossuth híd was a bridge that stood over the river Danube in Budapest from 1945 to 1960.

After the Soviet Red Army took Budapest in early 1945, they found all the city's seven bridges have been demolished by retrating Nazi troops. Soon, a pontoon bridge was created for military logistical purposes but its capacity proved insufficient and presence of winter icepacks on Danube made it impossible to maintain a permanent link across the 290 meters wide river with a floating bridge.

A decision was made to build a spar type bridge in record time. The total destruction of industry and chronic lack of raw materials in Hungary required cannibalizing several dozen oil wells in the oil fields of Zala county for the construction project. Steel piping was pulled from the depths and used as main spars for the bridge. It is said some gunbarrels from abandoned and destroyed WWII battle tanks were also incorporated in the structure. Because of the tight schedule and design restrictions dictated by available substandard materials, the bridge was built with numerous concrete pylons, with smallish, 30 and 40 meter wide openings between them. The construction project was entirely carried out by Soviet military engineering troops, with some 15 fatalities due to hurry and harsh work conditions.

By the time the bridge was completed, army shipping requirements decreased and a change in Soviet foreign politics allowed its control and use fell in the hands of Hungarian people. The permanent link, built right at the southern corner of Budapest's vast Parliament Building, was often referred to as the "Link of Life", especially in the leftist press. Indeed, for some time it was the only connection between the two halves of the city, Buda and Pest. Officially inaugurated as the bridge "Kossuth Lajos", it was named after the patriotic leader of Hungary's 1848-49 revolution.

Due to its hasty construction, the Kossuth bridge had several restrictions on use. It was used mainly for pedestrian crossing. Heavier trucks could cross at 20 km/h and in only one direction at a time. During sessions of the parliament, it was sometimes shut down for noise and security reasons.

In the years following WWII some of the demolished Danube bridges were rebuilt, helping the traffic situation. The Kossuth bridge gradually became a maintenance problem and its low-lying pavement more of an obstacle against shipping on the river Danube. It was finally shut down and dismantled in 1960, but not replaced. Nowadays only two plaques embedded in the Pest and Buda side riverbanks remind visitors of the bridge's former location. It is assumed that a bridge may be erected in the same place around 2020 as part of the long-term Budapest infrastructure modernization programme.

A photo of the Kossuth bridge with the Parliament in the background can be seen [http://www.scitech.mtesz.hu/03czere/images/fig24q.jpghere] .

* [http://dbridges.fw.hu/hidak/kossuthhid.html DBridges - Kossuth híd]