European Tribune - Community, Politics & Progress.

Open Day on Colbert Bridge

by DoDo
Sun Sep 14th, 2008 at 04:06:12 AM EST

Today (Saturday 13 September), there was an open day on the M0 North Danube Bridge, soon to be opened as Megyeri híd, despite American comedian Stephen Colbert winning the bridge naming contest, twice (and teaching his voting fans that híd = bridge). Bikers could cycle across where soon the steel avalache of the CO2 machines will roll.

(I wrote about the bridge and Colbert with some photos I made during construction in Bridge Blogging: Stephen Colbert Bridge)

Here is a series made along the Western approach:

The Western approach was subject to the first significant anti-highway protests around Budapest. But, the region Northwest of Budapest being an upper-middle-class one, these were strongly NIMBY in nature.

The bridge crosses the Danube across the Southern end of a large island (the cable-stayed main bridge is across the Eastern arm). However, that island is both a natural reserve and a place to collect clean groundwater as drinking water for the city. So the decision to build pylons and a construction basis on it was strongly protested by environmentalists. The construction firms were at least forced to follow strict rules on discharge of materials and chemicals.

Here is a look over the Western arm of the Danube, with some smaller islands:

Before leaving the bridge, here is another series - a study of cable-stays:

:: :: :: :: ::

Let me end the diary with a guessing game: what's this?

(Bike transport on a Budapest suburban train, 2008... rotated 90 degrees. Notice how I placed the back wheel outside the railings: I had to, otherwise the chain and the gear would sit up on it...)

:: :: :: :: ::

All previous Bridge Blogging (by PeWi, unless indicated otherwise):

2008-05-17 by Jerome a Paris: Der Garten Der Zwei Ufer (Strasbourg-Kehl pedestrian bridge)
2008-02-10 by DoDo: Stephen Colbert Bridge
2008-01-11: Bridges to Nowhere (and baby announcement)
2007-06-27 by Helen: Lost in France : Sails of the Massif (Millau bridge)
2007-03-29: Über sieben Brücken musst du gehn (bridges in Scotland)
2007-03-19 by canberra boy: Sydney Harbour Bridge 75th anniversary
2006-02-10: Kashmir earthquake aftermath
2006-01-27 by Jerome a Paris: Bridge Blogging - Chavez's Achilles' Heel
2005-12-28 by Jerome a Paris: Thomas Viaduct (by Jerome a Paris)
2005-12-01 by DoDo: Calatrava's Twisted Mind
2005-11-03: Wobbly (London Millenium Bridge)
2005-10-27: Parallel lines (bridge poems)
2005-10-19: Galloping Gertie
2005-10-13: animal bridges
2005-10-06: Remagen
2005-09-29: Transporter bridge in Middlesbrough
2005-09-22: Lyonel Feininger edition
2005-09-15: Activities on Brooklyn Bridge
2005-09-08: Bridge of Alcántara
2005-09-01: Tyne Swing Bridge
2005-08-25: Müngstener Brücke
2005-08-18: Mostar Bridge

. Home
. About
. Contact
. New User Guide
. FAQ
. ET Editorial Guidelines
. Search
. Search (Google)

Username:
Password:

. Make a new account
. Reset password

Open Day on Colbert Bridge | 15 comments (15 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Seed comment (4.00 / 6)

...and one more:

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Sat Sep 13th, 2008 at 02:17:52 PM EST

Re: Open Day on Colbert Bridge (4.00 / 3)

I take it the guessing game pic is rotated through 90 degrees? should be handlebars up, and is the only bike rack inside the train you are travelling on?

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sat Sep 13th, 2008 at 04:20:52 PM EST

Re: Open Day on Colbert Bridge (none / 1)

See bottom of diary after whitespace.

It's the only bike rack in this car; still, in such trains usually 2-4 cars are like this one, with bad space utilisation, and that number is voefully inadequate. On my regular moring train, there are no bike racks at all, even though about a dozen people commute by bike on it (they leave it in the door area or between the seats, so every time a normal passenger wants to get off, there is shuffling...)

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Sun Sep 14th, 2008 at 01:59:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open Day on Colbert Bridge (4.00 / 3)

I was impressed with the train I was on from Toulouse to Saverdun because they had bike space there and the use of space was very good. The bikes hang vertically upwards with the front wheel on the rack and it fits about 6 in a fairly small space. I was too busy taking photos of the things I saw outside the train to think about taking a photo of the rack. Most remiss of me.

Great diary, DoDo. I really like the photos. What a shame it isn't always a cycling bridge!

Ad astra per aspera

by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Sun Sep 14th, 2008 at 05:13:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Train Blogging - yey! (4.00 / 2)

DoDo, can you add the list of earlier train diaries to this one (or at least link to the archived diary that lists them?

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Sun Sep 14th, 2008 at 08:00:48 AM EST

Re: Train Blogging - yey! (none / 1)

Do you mean bridge blogging? Now done.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Sun Sep 14th, 2008 at 12:50:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]

yes (4.00 / 2)

thanks!

sorry, it's Pavlov's fault: DoDo = trains!

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Sun Sep 14th, 2008 at 03:37:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open Day on Colbert Bridge (none / 1)

I swear, it's the same guy who does the word-graffiti all over the world.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Sun Sep 14th, 2008 at 08:50:53 AM EST

Re: Open Day on Colbert Bridge (none / 1)

A really beautiful bridge with very nice lines. Are the towers cement, or metal? All those lanes and not even a little train? I imagine it´s pretty long if it cannot be walked.

Really great pictures.

Somewhat on topic, a bridge over the Ebro at Zaragoza´s Expo08:
http://tinyurl.com/5gtcs7

A lot of slides that actually seem brighter than real life and the Ebro is a creek compared to the Danube.

Really OT, for DoDo:
I had a mixed experience on the AVE/duck this week: I saw one leaving the station and it was really quiet from the outside; at least at low speed. It´s well insulated too, because on the way back at night we had a huge downpour with hail and we could barely hear anything. I think it´s also my first experience of a Spanish train that runs on time!

On the negative side, there were many spots where the train seemed to fish tail from one rail to the other, which brought me to attention. Then the glass shelf above the seats kept rattling against the fixtures and driving me up the wall. I finally hang my purse from shade hook and that stopped it.

Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. -Charu Saxena.

by metavision on Sun Sep 14th, 2008 at 10:13:35 AM EST

Re: Open Day on Colbert Bridge (none / 1)

The towers are cement. No train, indeed... but, at least, they are rebuilding the next railway bridge downriver (whose structure was a meant-as-temporary post-WWII military steel span...), which I shall bridge-blog, too.

The bridge is indeed long, but it can and could be walked: one side was opened for cyclists, the other for walkers exclusively;and once it's open, there is a walkway on both sides. On the open day, these weren't yet open, and there were guards every 50 metres who'd ask every trespasser to behave. (Me too, though I didn't trespass, just climbed up on the side railing to photograph the Western river arm - a railing pretty strong, impossible my weight wouzld have dented it...)

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Sun Sep 14th, 2008 at 12:57:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open Day on Colbert Bridge (none / 1)

the train seemed to fish tail from one rail to the other

Hm, interesting (from a professional point of view).

I always wondered how the Talgo can run high-speed without bogies. Bogies (that is those frames with two wheelsets in them that rotate relative to the carbody) have a natural stability of running (at least below a critical speed). The Talgos have single wheelsets between two adjoining cars. That should make it vulnerable to sideways swings in a caterpillar fashion. So, some springs and dampers do the job instead. But it appears Talgo's engineers haven't completely solved this coasting problem for high speed...

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Sun Sep 14th, 2008 at 01:07:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open Day on Colbert Bridge (4.00 / 4)

Great pictures, DoDo! Maybe we should have a meetup in Budapest sometime. :-)

by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Sep 14th, 2008 at 01:43:24 PM EST

Re: Open Day on Colbert Bridge (4.00 / 3)

I like that idea!

Ad astra per aspera

by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Sun Sep 14th, 2008 at 03:21:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open Day on Colbert Bridge (4.00 / 2)

ich drei

by PeWi on Sun Sep 14th, 2008 at 03:23:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open Day on Colbert Bridge (4.00 / 2)

Only very tangentially on topic, but in this corner of the world Colbert can only be the great Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Minister of finances of Louis XIV. He was actually a bit of a Minister of the Industry, and passed numerous edicts to regulate the economy which was being stressed by the king's constant wars.

I looked up Wikipedia, and found this interesting tidbit :
To maintain the character of French goods in foreign markets, as well as to afford a guarantee to the home consumer, Colbert had the quality and measure of each article fixed by law, punishing breaches of the regulations by public exposure of the delinquent and by destruction of the goods concerned, and, on the third offence, by the pillory.

Now of course, this is what a pillory is like :

Mmmh. I know of some corporations which, submitted to this kind of treatment, just might start behaving...

by balbuz on Sun Sep 14th, 2008 at 02:45:35 PM EST

Open Day on Colbert Bridge | 15 comments (15 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Go to: [ European Tribune Homepage : Top of page : Top of comments ]