Suspension Rio-Antirrio bridge (official name - the bridge Charilaos Trikupisa) - bridge over the Gulf of Corinth, which connects the Peloponnese (Rio, the municipality of Patras) and mainland Greece (Andirion). This is one of the most impressive and tremendous masterpiece of modern engineering.

The idea of ​​creating such structures emerged in the 19th century, as the link between the mainland and the Peloponnese was carried out only by a ferry, or else through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth, but this was not enough. Such a bold proposal belonged to the prime minister Charilaos Trikupisu, but since such a project was too big a luxury for the Greek economy, while it has not been implemented.

Besides financial issues a serious obstacle for the construction were seemingly unsolvable technical problems caused by the natural features of this area - a large depth of the bay (about 65 meters), soft bottom, the seismic activity in the region, a high probability of a tsunami and the movement of tectonic plates, and therefore every year the Gulf of Corinth is expanding by about 30 mm. The fact that the length of the bridge was to be about 3 km, also created additional difficulties.

By the mid-90s of the 20th century, a technical solution has finally been found. Work on the preparation of the construction site and to strengthen the bottom began in the summer of 1998, and in 2000 began construction of pylons, poles. The total cost of the work amounted to about 630 million euros.

The length of the Rio-Antirrio bridge is 2880 meters and the width - about 28 meters. There are two road strip in both directions, emergency lane and a pedestrian walkway. The design consists of five spans (the longest of which is 560 m), held by four massive pillars.

The grand opening of this engineering miracle took place on 7 August 2004, the eve of the Summer Olympic Games in Athens. Particularly impressive sight bridge produces at night when the lights turn on.