Basic HTML Version
FCC Construcción has received the 2012
ARACO Quality Trophy for the construction
of Basarab Viaduct in Bucharest, one of
the biggest projects undertaken in Roma-
nia in the last 20 years and now one of the
country’s foremost examples of pacesetting
architecture.
ARACO is the Romanian Association of
Construction Entrepreneurs, and its award
is a token of the association’s recognition of
the fine work done on the viaduct, including
the introduction of innovating pretensioning
and cable-stayed techniques developed by
BBR.
This project has beaten two European re-
cords, one because it is the widest cable-
stayed bridge in Europe (44 metres wide),
and the other because it contains a tram
FCC Construcción
receives ARACO’s
2012 Award for Basarab Viaduct, Bucharest
station with ground-level entrances, where
travellers can transfer to the metro system
and the train system.
Awarded in 2006 with a budget of over
150 million Euros, Basarab Viaduct stands
northwest of the capital in one of the areas
of heaviest traffic, thronging with retail and
residential buildings. The elevated structure
is 1,950 metres long and helps relieve the
pressing vehicle traffic. It also carries one of
the capital’s main tram routes, and there is
a station on the viaduct’s cable-stayed sec-
tion providing access to the metro system
and the Gara de Nord platforms.
There are four parts to the viaduct: the Gro-
zavesti Viaduct, the 120-metre-long arch
bridge over the Dâmvobiţa River, the Or-
chidea Viaduct and the cable-stayed brid-
ge across the rail yard, which houses the
metro station.
u s i n e s s
The Romanian stamp authorities regard the
viaduct as “a symbol of the capital, an arch
over time and history.” Accordingly, they
have released an issue of postage stamps
devoted entirely to the Basarab Viaduct
project.
The ARACO Quality Trophy is a distinction
established in 1995 for and by professio-
nal builders. The Romanian Association of
Construction Entrepreneurs holds compe-
titions to select the award’s recipients from
among building firms that have engaged in
highly complex, high-quality special pro-
jects in Romania or abroad using innovative
technologies. The ARACO Quality Trophy
is a trademark registered with OSIM, the
Romanian State Office for Inventions and
Trademarks.