Castle Bridge (Charles‘ Bridge)

In 1826 instead of ferry over the River Danė there was built a new wooden drawbridge, which connected the new market place, equipped between theatre and castle, with rapidly developing Northern part of the city.   
This bridge, named in behalf of Prince Charles (Karl), the son of the King Friedrich Wilhelm III, which lived in Klaipėda during the Napoleonic. Prince Charles himself gave consent in writing for this name on 2 July 1826.  
The Charles Bridge had a hole, which was of 11.6 meters wide. In 1877-1878 it was rebuilt, and in 1902, having obtained subsidy of 127 000 marks, was renewed. Bridge hole for ships to pass under the bridge was widened to 17.5 meters wide.
After the construction of the tram line in 1904, wooden Charles Bridge was replaced by the metal one. It was moved by electric motor. Bridge‘s hole for ships to pass under the bridge was 20 meters wide. Bridge railings were metal, and its top was decorated with Art Nouveau specific elements. On the Charles Bridge small boutiques operated; later they were banned. The bridge was reconstructed in 1974-1976. It was renamed in behalf of Castle Bridge. Major repairs of the Castle Bridge took place in 2014. Workers had to dismantle the bridge constructions and to transport part of the renewals to the factory. They have been repaired, repainted and again returned for mounting. Some constructions were updated locally.
There were metal and reinforced concrete load-bearing bridge structures repaired, repairs of bridge hydraulic lifting system was performed, the bridge lifting mechanism was replaced as well as the system was automated, the finishing works of management system, internal and external decoration works were performed, covering of a lifting and roadway parts of the bridge was newly equipped for 12.9 million LTL. Pedestrian and bicycle parths were newly equipped, the bridge was adapted to people with disabilities; also there were installed 4 lifting roadblocks to block the flooding automobile traffic during the uplift of the bridge. Due the newly installed lift mechanism this procedure only takes a few minutes. The bridge is illuminated by solar and wind generated electricity using lights.