Karaj Shah Abbasi Bridge

Entering Karaj city from the east, you will see the historic bridge which is known as Pol Dokhtar, Soleymanieh Bridge, Shah Abbasi Bridge as well as Khatoun Bridge. The construction of Pol Dokhtar in Karaj backs to the time of Seljuks. Placed next to the Samsam castle, it is the memorial of the fifth and sixth centuries Hijri, in the middle of the road of Rey to Qazvin. 

Shah Abbasi bridge was then reconstructed in Safavid era. The bridge witnessed another phase of reconstruction in 1388 AH, when it was being damaged by the outwear and humidity of the rain and flood in Deliçay Bridge of Alborz. This time they paved the passage above the bridge, constructed two shelters on two sides of the bridge and two staircases. Pol Dokhtar is today seen in the list of Iran National Monuments. 

Pol Dokhtar is about sixty-one meters high and more than seven meters wide. The water which originates from the middle Alborz mountains and Chalous to reach Karaj, is flowing beneath the bridge and it flows southward to the Mard Abad and Mahdasht. 

The original structure of the bridge is like a stair. The middle base of the bridge is in fact a thick wall including two stories and four small and large mouths. This kind of structure is strong enough to lighten the heavy load of the bridge which has been pressing the bases throughout the history. And it also reduces the water pressure in times of the river overflow, as much as possible.  

Two larger mouths include vaults with semi-circular arches, the upper story’s two mouths are formed by lancet archs. Two upper mouths are connected to the lower and side mouths through a hall and a staircase. Passengers can stay in these halls, too. Made of stone and Sarooj, the side columns of Pol Dokhtar are placed on megaliths and on the slips of two sides of the rivers. These columns hold the brick body of the bridge. They also used the brick in order to build two layers of the larger mouth. 

Shah Abbasi Bridge in Karaj is placed in the beginning of Karaj-Chalous Road; it is visible on the other side of Hafiz square, over the Karaj River, after the exit of Tehran-Karaj highway.