NEW MASLENICA BRIDGE TO OPEN ON MONDAY

ZADAR, March 5 (Hina) - The construction of the new Maslenica bridge has been completed and the bridge will be opened to traffic next Monday, Reconstruction and Development Minister Jure Radic said on Wednesday during a tour of the building site. The bridge, spanning the Maslenica strait 30 km inland from the central Adriatic town of Zadar, is 377 m long and 21.40 m wide and its construction has cost about 80 million kuna (US$ 13.3 million). Radic went underneath the bridge while there were 16 loaded trucks on it. "It's an old custom of construction workers to stand under the bridge at the time of its examination under the maximum load and thus show that what they have done is good," he said. "The shifts under the load are less than one millimetre, which means that deviations are less than planned and that the bridge is more than safe," he added. "We want to link as soon as possible the north and south of Croatia into a single transport system, and the new Maslenica bridge is part of that system and not a monument to itself," Radic said. At a brief press conference, Radic thanked all the people who participated in the construction of the bridge and read out a letter from the construction workers to President Franjo Tudjman. "The bridge is and will remain a symbol of postwar reconstruction, a reflection of the courage and defiance of the builders who, exposed to (Serb) shelling, spanned the strait," the letter said. The constructors emphasised that it was the first large reinforced concrete bridge with one arch in the world and that new technology had been applied in its construction. The old bridge was blown up by rebel Serbs in late 1991, and the Croatian army recaptured the area in early 1993. A pontoon bridge was set up later that year and has been open to traffic since then. (hina) vm mm 051624 MET mar 97