The Associate Professor of the Department of Civil Engineering of the AUTH Kostantinos Katakalos was in Kozani today in order to supervise the start of the second phase of the restoration work of the High Bridge of Servia.

As he said, “the prestressing reinforcement study has been approved and the work of the technical workshops is starting”.

Technical crews are already on the bridge and are organizing the start of the works which, according to the professor, will last about three weeks.

As he explained immediately after their completion “the necessary loadings will follow in order to see if everything has been done well and then the green light will be given for the total restoration of traffic for heavy vehicles up to 40 tons”.

Mr. Katakalos underlined that the goal is “to return the bridge to the state it was in before the ban and then the restriction of traffic by cars and trucks”.

According to the professor, after the completion of the work of local reinforcement of the cantilever that is facing a problem, the overall control of the Bridge will follow in order to determine if there are any other points that need technical restoration.

The Serbian Bridge is the second largest bridge in the country after that of Rio and was built in 1975 when PPC built the Polyfytos Dam, creating one of the largest artificial lakes in Greece.

On March 17, 2023, for safety reasons, all vehicles were prohibited from crossing the bridge, in order to carry out restoration work on its cantilevers and strengthening it with new steel tendons.

In the last two months, traffic lights have been adjusted to allow cars to travel, while trucks over 3.5 tons are prohibited.