Szentes Kurca Bridge

The design of the Kurca Bridge in Szentes was connected to the renewal of one of the city’s important inner-city transport links. The bridge is located on Kiss Zsigmond Street, crossing the Kurca main canal in an urban environment where road, pedestrian and bicycle use are all present.

The design task focused on the demolition of the existing road bridge and the existing pedestrian-cyclist bridge, and on the development of a new bridge with a high-quality urban appearance. The aim was not simply to replace a structure, but to prepare a new crossing that would better fit the renewed public-space environment along the Kurca and the city’s everyday transport needs.

We participated in the project with bridge design services. Our bridge design office prepared the bridge discipline plans on behalf of the general designer, with Unique Plan Kft. also involved in the work. The task covered the preparation of full building permit and construction design documentation.

One of the key design questions was how to separate the different transport functions safely and clearly on an urban-scale bridge. The selected concept consists of three superstructures separated from each other by air gaps: a separate road bridge section, a separate pedestrian section and a separate pedestrian-cyclist bridge section were developed in the plans. This structural logic supports both the separation of functions and the urban appearance of the bridge.

The planned bridge was designed as a prefabricated, prestressed reinforced concrete slab structure with a curved underside. The aim of the formal design was for the new crossing to function not only as a transport structure, but also as a restrained yet distinctive urban element fitting into the Kurca-side environment.

The value of the work lies in the need to coordinate traffic safety, pedestrian and bicycle use, structural rationality and a site-sensitive appearance in a small-scale but urbanistically sensitive bridge design task.

General designer: Pro Urbe Mérnöki és Városrendezési Kft.

Bridge design partner: Unique Plan Kft.