The Rio-Antirio bridge is the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world crossing the Gulf of Corinth near Patras, linking the town of Rio on the Peloponnese to Antirio on mainland Greece, thus connecting the peninsula with the rest of Europe,

Improved Communications:

The bridge dramatically improves access to and from the Peloponnese, which could previously be reached only by ferry or via the Isthmus of Corinth at its extreme east end. It has a length of 2252 m / 1.5 miles (2882 m / 1.9 miles including the access bridges); as it consists entirely of five cable-stayed spans and four pylons, and it is the world's longest cable-stayed suspended deck, Its width is 28 meters / 92.4 feet. — it has two vehicle lanes per direction, an emergency lane and a pedestrian walkway.

This bridge is widely considered to be an engineering masterpiece owing to several solutions applied to span the difficult site. These difficulties include deep water, insecure materials for foundations, seismic activity, the probability of tsunamis, and the expansion of the Gulf of Corinth due to plate tectonics,

Its official name is the Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge, Charilaos Trikoupis was a 19th century Greek prime minister, and suggested the idea of building a bridge between Rio and Antirrio; however, the endeavor was too expensive at the time, when Greece was trying to get a late foot into the Industrial Revolution

History:

The bridge was planned in the mid-1990s. Site preparation and dredging began in July 1998, and construction of the massive supporting pylons in 2000, With these complete in 2003, work began on the traffic decks and supporting cables. On May 21, 2004, the main construction was completed; only equipment (sidewalks, railings, etc.) and waterproofing remained to be installed, The bridge was finally inaugurated on August 7, 2004, a week before the opening of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens — and the Olympic torchbearers the first to officially cross its length. One of them was Otto Rehhagel, the German football coach who won the Euro 2004 Championships for Greece. Another one was Costas Laliotis, the former Minister of Public Works during whose term the project had begun.

The total cost of the bridge was about € 630,000,000, mostly funded by the European Union, and it was finished ahead of its original schedule, which had foreseen completion between September November 2004, and within budget,

The structure was built by a consortium led by the French group Vinci, and which includes the Greek companies Hellenic Technodomiki-TEV, J&P-Avax, Athena, Proodeftiki and Pantechniki. It will operate it under concession under its -Gefyra (Greek for "bridge") subsidiary. The lead architect was Berdj Mikaelian.
 

9/23/08