Structural Investigation of Drini River Bridges, Case Study of Structures Analyses

Abstract

The Drini is the longest river not only in Albania, but in the west Balkan region, with a total length of 285 km. It is well known for a lot of number and famous bridges constructed since the antiquity period and continuing nowadays. This paper is focused on the structural development of bridges that used to be called “Kukësi Bridges” located over the White and Black Drini rivers. The old bridges were built and designed in 1974 using KTP Albanian national codes, carrying the first-class road until the building of a national road. The new bridge is in the final construction stage with the reconstruction of the national road highway, designed with advanced requirements regarding Eurocode standards. This paper analyses the structural bridges' progress related to historical and technical points of view.