Latvia to spend €5.98 million on prefabricated bridges for a temporary Daugava crossing in Riga

Latvia's government on Tuesday, 10 November, backed the purchase of extra prefabricated bridge sets without applying the Public Procurement Law, LSM, the Latvian public broadcaster, reported. Riga could use the structures to build a temporary bridge over the Daugava while the Vanšu cable-stayed bridge is rebuilt.

About 12 sets will be bought, each with a span of 45 metres. The purchase requires €5.98 million from 2027. The structures will be delivered in 2027 under a contract signed in 2025 with the Austrian company Waagner-Biro Bridge Systems AG.

State reserve, city bill

The prefabricated bridges will join the state's material reserves and can be used if permanent bridges are damaged by floods, accidents, a military threat or another emergency. For the duration of the Vanšu bridge works, the state will lend them to Riga City Council free of charge.

The council will pay all costs of designing, building, maintaining and dismantling the temporary bridge. Placing it next to the Vanšu bridge has been proposed to ease traffic, but the final site and number of lanes have not been announced.

When the Vanšu bridge works begin

The reconstruction, worth almost €70 million, will be carried out by the Vanšu tilts consortium, with main works due to start in autumn 2027. Riga hopes to have the temporary bridge in place by then so that traffic across the Daugava is not cut.