Voted Bridge of the Year 2024

In 2024, bridges spanning the Ipoly River competed for recognition. A vote decided that the Bridge of the Year award, established by the Bridge Builders Association and the KTE Transport Safety Division, would go to the Ipolyhídvéget Drégelypalatine Bridge, built by Colas Közlekedésépítő Zrt. and Colas Út Zrt., connecting Ipolyhídvég with Drégelypalánk.

The bridge provides the 40th border crossing point between Slovakia and Hungary; its construction was our website also followed its construction. To connect to the 48.5-metre clear-span St Barbara Bridge, a one-kilometre approach road had to be built on the Hungarian side and a 400-metre approach road on the Slovak side.

The construction of the crossing started in spring 2022, the licensing plans were prepared by Speciálterv Kft., the construction plans by Roden Mérnöki Iroda Kft and Pont-Terv Zrt.
The bridge that used to stand here, like the others, was destroyed in the Second World War. Because of this, the only way to get from Drégelypalánk to the Ipolyhídvég on the other side was to cross the border crossing at Parassapuszta, twenty kilometres away.

The second most votes in the vote went to the Ipoly bridge between Ráróspuszta - Rárós, which was built by the A-Híd-Építő Zrt. and the Hídépítő Zrt. Ipoly A-H 2009 Consortium. The bridge, a monolithic reinforced concrete structure with three openings, 15 m wide and 73.4 m long, was opened to traffic in 2011.

In the 2024 Bridge of the Year poll, the Charles Robert Bridge connecting Ipolydamásd to Helemba came third. The Colas Közlekedésépítő Zrt. built the road crossing over the Ipoly river between Ipolydamásd and the Hungarian-majority Helemba (Chl'aba) on the other side of the border.
In the development, the two roads leading up to the bridge were built by Colas Út Zrt. and Colas Slovakia respectively. The total length of the single-span bridge is 71 metres, with a 540-metre-long
connecting road on the northeast side of the river and a 175-metre-long road on the southwest side.