Dacians' Bridge, Timișoara

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The Dacians' Bridge (Podul Dacilor) is a bridge in Timișoara, Romania, that crosses the Bega River at Badea Cârțan Market in the Fabric district. It carries trams, motor vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles and is one of three bridges in Fabric.

History and first bridge
In the early 1900s the Bega River had many branches with watermills. To better use the river’s power, the city planned to straighten the river, building three new bridges. The Hay Market Bridge (the original name) was built for this plan. The contract went to a Budapest company, Magyar Beton és Vasbeton Építési Vállalat. The bridge was designed by Rezső Hikisch, with engineer Aladár Kovács-Sebestény and city engineers Emil Szilárd and Stan Vidrighin. Completed in 1909, the bridge was a reinforced concrete, three-span continuous beam. It was about 10.8 meters wide, with a central span of 31.36 meters; the outer spans were partly hidden by embankments. It carried freight trains along the tram line.

Decline and replacement
In 1970–71, inspections found serious damage, and freight traffic on the tram line was stopped. In 1988, the old Dacians' Bridge was demolished and replaced with a new reinforced concrete structure. The new bridge’s tram service was restored, and private motor traffic was redirected to the nearby Andrei Șaguna Bridge.

The new bridge
The modern Dacians' Bridge has a central opening of 31.36 meters and two side openings of 8.26 meters each. The roadway is 7.8 meters wide, with 3-meter sidewalks on both sides. It was built by IPROTIM under engineer Radu Marinov, with construction work conducted by the Romanian state railway Căile Ferate Române.

Names
The bridge was called Széna-téri híd (Hay Market Bridge) until 1919, and then Podul din Piața de Fân for five years, both names reflecting the former Hay Market nearby.