Megyeri Bridge
Megyeri Bridge Megyeri Híd | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 47°36′26″N 19°05′32″E / 47.60722°N 19.09222°E |
Carries | M0 beltway of Budapest |
Crosses | Danube |
Locale | Budapest |
Characteristics | |
Design | cable-stayed bridge |
Total length | 1,862 m (6,109 ft) |
Height | 100 m (328 ft) |
Longest span | 300 m (984 ft) |
Clearance below | 30 m (98 ft) |
History | |
Opened | September 30, 2008 |
Location | |
The Megyeri Bridge (
. It is an important section of theThe bridge cost 63 billion forints (approx. US$300M) to build and was officially opened on September 30, 2008;[1] however, the National Transport Authority of Hungary has only issued temporary permits because of disagreement among suburban cities surrounding the bridge.
An online naming poll to determine the new name of the recently built bridge caused controversy and received media attention when American comedians Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart won.
Gallery
Technical information
The total length of the bridge is 1862m. Structurally it is composed of five parts:
- Left quayside inundation area bridge: 148m
- Main Danube-branch bridge (cable stayed): 590m with a span of 300m
- Szentendre Island inundation area bridge: 559m
- Szentendre Danube-branch bridge: 332m
- Right quayside inundation area bridge: 218m
Naming poll
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Transport of Hungary organized a public vote online to solicit possible names for the new bridge. The three names with the most votes, as well as suggestions from local governments, cartographers, linguists and other experts, were to be reviewed by a government committee before a final name for the bridge was chosen. New nominations were accepted until August 21, 2006, and the voting ended on September 8, 2006.
On August 1, 2006, Reuters reported that the top candidate according to the online poll was the "Chuck Norris híd", named for American action star
On September 14, 2006, András Simonyi—the ambassador of Hungary to the United States—announced on The Colbert Report that Stephen Colbert had won the vote. Unfortunately for Colbert, Ambassador Simonyi declared that under Hungarian law, Colbert would have to be fluent in Hungarian, and would have to be deceased in order to have the bridge named for him. However, after saying the rules could most likely be bent, he invited Colbert to visit Hungary and view the construction in person and gave him a Hungarian passport and a 10,000 HUF Bill, with an approximate value of, as the ambassador put it, 'fifty dollars, fifty good US dollars'. Colbert promptly tried to bribe him with said money.[3]
Results
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Megyeri Bridge
On September 28, 2006, it was announced that the bridge will be named "Megyeri Bridge", even though that name did not make it to the second round. The Hungarian Geographical Name Committee justified the final name by explaining that the bridge connects Káposztásmegyer and Békásmegyer.[6]
See also
- List of crossings of the Danube River
References
- ^ "Átadták a csodahidat "Wonder bridge opens"". Index.hu. September 30, 2008.
- ^ "Chuck Norris leads vote for Budapest bridge name". Reuters. August 8, 2006. Archived from the original on December 25, 2005.
- ^ "A "Stephen Colbert híd" sztori vége - indavideo.hu".
- ^ "M0-ás híd portál". gkm.gov.hu. September 8, 2006. Archived from the original on October 13, 2006.
- ^ "M0-ás híd portál". gkm.gov.hu. September 8, 2006. Archived from the original on October 13, 2006.
- ^ "The M0 Bridge named as Megyeri Bridge". RTLKlub.hu. September 28, 2006.[permanent dead link]
External links
- Google Earth 3D model of the bridge
- Megyeri híd - pictures and articles (in Hungarian)
- Photos of Budapest bridges
- Bloomberg article
- Computer generated video of the Northern M0 Danube bridge
- Index.hu article (in Hungarian)
- Public transport map of Budapest (with bridges) (in English and Hungarian)
- Bridges of Budapest - Megyeri Bridge
- Aerial photographs of the bridge