Eiffel Bridge, Ungheni

The Eiffel Bridge (Podul Eiffel) is a bridge over the River Prut and a checkpoint between Moldova and Romania. The bridge is located between Ungheni, Moldova and Ungheni, Romania.

History
On May 18 1872 a Russian diplomatic agent, Ivan Alekseevich Zinov'ev, and Gheorghe Costaforu signed a rail junction convention, which was ratified on January 21 1873. and the Iași-Ungheni railway was opened on August 1, 1874. The railway Chișinău-Cornești-Ungheni (built 1871–1875) was opened on June 1, 1875, by the Russian Empire in preparation for the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). Ungheni customs were established in 1875 after putting into operation the Chișinău-Ungheni-Iași railroad. The railway Chișinău-Cornești was already opened in 1873.

The first metal bridge was built according to the design of the Russian engineer Nikolai Belelubsky between 1874-1876. The first Russian troops crossed the bridge in 1877. Due to a testing process that lasted another 5 years, the bridge did not come into civilian use until 1881. It was blown up by retreating Russian troops on 22 June 1941 and rebuilt for the needs of German-Romanian troops. Bombed in 1944, it was rebuilt by the Russians between 1944 and 1946.

Today, the bridge remains a strategically positioned construction under the supervision of border guards.