In the 1960s, the last stage of the second city ring road, part of the new general zoning plan of the city, started. It was necessary to build two new bridges over the Elbe River and one over the Orlice River and to solve two complicated crossings: at the new stadium and at Dukelská, Resslova and Střelecká Streets in the city center, where a generously designed pedestrian underpass with a shopping arcade was built.
The first bridge over the Elbe River was built at the confluence of the Elbe and Orlice rivers. The architectural design was obtained by Milan Rejchl, who worked at the Prague Design Institute at the time. Hradec Králové was his birthplace and his father worked in the local Stavoprojekt company, which he also led for several years.
Milan Rejchl collaborated with builder Jan Schwaller and together they designed an experimental solution for a two-lane bridge, which consists of two separate bridge decks. They decided for a structure made of a strut frame segmental vault with three spans made of prestressed reinforced concrete. The bridge was built by a new, fast concreting: it was concreted from both sides at the same time. The supports at the Elbe basin sank slightly, and when the two concrete halves met, there was a height difference of about 15cm between them, which had to be compensated in a complicated way.
The architect and builder wanted the bridge to be well connected to the existing cycling and pedestrian trails along the river and built four arched ramps for cyclists. The bridge project was later simplified and modified by Karel Dahinter during the construction of the northern bridge over the Elbe River in 1972–1974.
LZL
Monument Preservation
The bridge at the river confluence is part of the listed the urban conservation area in Hradec Králové.
Sources
- Archiv Milana Rejchla
Literature
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DIVIŠOVÁ, Jaroslava (ed.). Encyklopedie města Hradce Králové. Hradec Králové: Garamon, 2011.
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ZIKMUND-LENDER, Ladislav. Milan Rejchl: Architektura a výtvarné dílo. Hradec Králové: Pravý úhel, 2016.
