The pedestrian suspension bridge project at NP Krka, which will be the third longest in the world and second longest in Europe, will connect the medieval fortresses ofNečven and Trošenj through the canyon of Krka. The project was presented in Šibenik on Tuesday by the director of NP Krka, Krešimir Šakić, and the director of the project office “Blok” Hrvoje Vukić, who drafted the idea of the project, reports Slobodna Dalmacija on January 15, 2019.
“This is the crown of our development projects and the construction of visitor infrastructure. This bridge will be a turning point in the municipalities of Promina and Kistanje and the areas around them and will set a new development pace. This is the element that will further increase the attractiveness of this space in a way that will not jeopardize nature. This visitor attraction is designed so that the guests are directed to the edges of the canyons, which will increase the attractiveness of all areas, primarily the Eko Krka campus in Puljane, the archaeological sites on Burnum, the Oziđana pećina and the extremely attractive waterfalls of Manojlovac,” said the director of NP Krka, Krešimir Šakić, adding that it is too early to speak about the value of the project.
The construction of a 462.5-meter long bridge, as Šakić said, will start in the next year to year and a half, though everything will depend on the speed of documentation and licensing. The design project was drafted and the Environmental Protection and Communal Affairs Department for the County of Šibenik-Knin issued a decision on the acceptability of the environmental network intervention in November. Apart from the bridge, there are plans to arrange access routes for the Nečven and Trošenj fortresses.
“The medieval fortresses Nevčen and Trošenj are five hundred meters away, and the basic range of the bridge of about 462 meters. The bridge is a Tibetan style suspension bridge and was chosen because we wanted it to have less influence on the area itself and the natural beauty that is there. The supporting structure is steel ropes that are laid on the portal, one on the side of the Nevčen, one on the side of Trošenj, and the tread surface and other parts of the structure are made up of stabilization ropes. The floor surface was designed as wooden; however, given the conditions, it will be altered with a transparent surface for a direct view onto the river. In the middle of the bridge, the pedestrian walkway is located 140 meters above the Krka river. This is the first of such a project in Croatia,” said Hrvoje Vukić.
The bridge is conceived to combine the function of a pedestrian walkway and viewpoint and offer an immediate landscape experience of untouched nature. To better fit the landscape, the relatively lightweight structure of the floating pedestrian bridge was imposed as an optimal solution. The anticipated width of the pedestrian walkway is 160 centimeters, which answers to the full width of the pedestrian path with two pedestrian lanes.
As the Mayor of Promina Tihomir Budanko and the deputy mayor of the Kistanje municipality Borislav Šarić said, the bridge will be crucial for the development of these municipalities, and especially for their tourism development. The project will also link the Eko Campus Krka in Puljane with the Center for the Interpretation of the Nature of Krka – the source of life in Kistanje, where construction works are underway within the project “Unknown Krka”.
“The realization of this project will considerably extend the duration of the visitor season and connect the left and right banks of the Krka to make it a complete tourist destination. Only with the growth of tourism along the Krka river, we can expect new investments and employment,” said Budanko and Šarić.
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