Rafting Bridge

The location of the new footbridge lies on the axis connecting the Museum square in front of the Central Library on the left bank, with the promenade in the town park on the right bank of the Savinja River. In a wider context the footbridge connects the medieval town center on the left bank with the town park on the right bank. On the right bank the existing footbridge connects to footpaths and bicycle paths running along Partizanska street, on the left bank it intersects Badovin?eva street and connects to the foot path along the Savinja embankment, and across the Museum square into the system of footpaths and bicycle paths throughout the town.

The footbridge is shaped as a slightly tense steel bridge beam with a varying cross section, which extends from Savinja embankment to the deepened Partizanska street in a single span of 73 meters, crosses the street in the span of 8 meters and lowers towards the level of town park in the shape of a spiral, which is 26 m high and 24 m wide. In the longitudinal section the steel beam has a varying height, rising from 70 cm at the bed on the left bank to 1.64 m at the crown of the structure in the middle of the river and is growing thinner towards the supporting walls along the Partizanska street, where it reaches the height of 70 cm again. From there the footbridge continues to the shape of the spiral, where the beam is only 30 cm high. At the end of the spiral a monolithic wedgelike concrete conclusion is made. The bridge beam cross section (a box structure made of thick steel sheets) is of trapezoid shape. It measures 3.30 cm on the upper side, while on the lower side its width varies depending on the characteristics of the longitudinal section and measures from 1.39 m at the crown of the bridge, to 2.95 m at the spiral. Due to the chosen geometry of cross sections the bridge will seem lighter than the usual beam constructions. On the left bank the bridge is fastened into a heavy foundation on deepseated piles, on the right bank it is fastened into a boxshaped AB frame, formed by two supporting walls along the Partizanska street and are placed on underlying concrete slab, lying above the found archeological level under the Partizanska street. Ending of the bridge in the park in the form of a spiral is supported by thin round steel columns joints.