The faldaway catwalk
Was constructed by Hydro-Naval – a local offshore and maritime industry company. It is the only bridge in Europe, which is folded away by a rotating mechanism located on a pylon.
The catwalk was built to provide better communication between both sides of Ustka – the eastern and the western one. Before that, in order to cross the harbour channel, one needed to move deeply into the town – to the next bridge.
The total lenght of the catwalk is 57,78 meters and the width is 4 meters. The whole construction weights over 80 tons and can carry the load of 30 tons. The 24 meters tall pylon is on the western side of the harbour.
The catwalk opens and folds away in about 4 minutes. It can be operated unless the wind speed exceeds 10mps or the visibility drops below half a nautical mile.