Kładka Słodowa, Wrocław

Kładka Słodowa is the pedestrian and cycle crossing linking Słodowa Island with Nadodrze, near Drobnera Street. It crosses the Northern Oder, a side channel of the river. The crossing was completed in 2003 as part of a programme reshaping the islands within the inner-city water network.

The deck traces a taut, spare line above the water. Its main river span measures 48 metres, while ramps and stairs of reinforced concrete carry the route down on either bank. The structure’s signature is a pair of tubular steel arches: each tube is 450 millimetres across, the arches rise 14.87 metres, and they lean away from the vertical.

They meet and weave past each other near the crown, giving this compact crossing its unusual sense of motion. The deck itself acts as the tie holding the arches together. Twenty stainless-steel-clad cables suspend it, while the usable width over the water is 3.5 metres.

Conceived by J. Bliszczuk and T. Boniecki, and designed through Tomasz Boniecki’s studio with ISBA, it turns a short connection into a small piece of riverside engineering.