Wednesday, October 16, is a landmark day for one of the 13 bridges of Trikala, as the demolition of the Marougaina bridge began, in order to be replced by new infrastructure.
The demolition of the bridge and the creation of a new one is part of the project of the Municipality of Trikkaia "Interventions (repair, strengthening, reconstruction) of the bridges of the Litheos river within the city of Trikala with the aim of their static restoration and aesthetic upgrading".
The "VERMION ATEE" company that has undertaken the project, since August 8 and throughout the previous period, carried out work that facilitates the start of the demolition. In particular, the bridge was closed for pedestrians, dykes were installed to allow the river water to flow and asphalt to allow machinery to move, etc.
The demolition of the bridge was deemed necessary because the relevant study showed that there were significant stability issues in many parts.
A new one will be built in its place, in the same location and in its original form, that is, in the form before the 1940s.
The first bridge was probably built in the 18th century, it was destroyed by bombing in 1941, a makeshift wooden bridhe was built in 1946, and the one to be demolished was built in 1949, connecting National Resistance Square (then Kitrilaki) with Othonos Street.
The new pedestrian bridge will be double-arched, with two symmetrical semi-circular spans with a free hydraulic section of 10 m in diameter. The final morphological and aesthetic form of the pedestrian bridge will be as faithful as possible to the original Marougaina bridge.
The study for this new bridge was prepared as a donation by the "Association of Trikaline Citizens - Marougaina Bridge", which was established on the initiative of Trikaline gynecologist-obstetrician Kyriakos Tsagoulis, who mobilized scientists in order to prepare the study, as stated in a Press Release by the Municipality of Trikkaia.
The project for the reconstruction and maintenance of all the bridges in Trikala is financed by the Recovery Fund ("National Recovery and Resilience Plan Greece 2.0") with a budget of 3,300,000 euros.