New Bridge, Mitrovica

The Ibar Bridge (also known as Mitrovica Bridge, Ibar River Bridge, New Bridge or by its unofficial name Austerlitz Bridge) is a steel truss bridge crossing the Ibar river in Mitrovica, Kosovo, connecting South Mitrovica and North Mitrovica. The Ibar Bridge became an iconic symbol of Kosovo's division, as it separated around 80,000 Kosovo Albanians in the south from around 50 000 Serbs and other nationalities living in the north. It was used as a military checkpoint and provided a de facto boundary and buffer zone between the mainly ethnic Serbian populated North Kosovo and the rest of Kosovo which has an ethnic Albanian majority. Today the bridge is open to pedestrians and there are only Carabinieri patrols from KFOR-MSU and Kosovo Police, but there is no longer any checkpoint.

In 2025, after the international community still blocked the total opening of the Ibar Bridge in Mitrovica, the Kurti government responded by commissioning the construction of two additional bridges within just two months. One bridge, located west of the Ibar Bridge, was built for road traffic and pedestrians, while another to the east was designed exclusively for pedestrians and features distinctive architecture, including a small waterfall. The connection between South and North Mitrovica has now been fully restored, ending decades of separation.