The Yevhen Paton Bridge in Kyiv opened on 5 November 1953. By the mid-2010s, it was crossing the threshold of its sixth decade of continuous service.
What makes the bridge unique is the use of automatic submerged-arc welding to join the steel structures. It was the world's first all-welded bridge, designed by the Ukrproektstalkonstruktsiya institute together with the Paton Electric Welding Institute. Built by Mostobud, the 1,543-metre bridge has 26 spans and a metal-structure weight of 10,000 tonnes.
Over six decades it has carried billions of tonnes of traffic, remaining a symbol of Ukrainian engineering ingenuity and one of Kyiv's hallmarks.