Briare Canal Bridge

Briare canal bridge, looking towards Saint-Firmin-sur-Loire

The canal bridge Briare (fr: Pont-canal de Briare) is a trough bridge on the outskirts of the French city of Briare in the department of Loiret in the region Center-Val de Loire . On it, the Lateral Canal à la Loire crosses the lower Loire River and a section of the canal that is no longer in use. Until 2003, the structure was the longest metal canal bridge in the world.

history

The Pont Canal on the Briar side

The bridge crosses the old canal in front of the northeastern abutment

In 1642 the Canal de Briare , then under the name Canal Henri IV or Canal de Loyre en Seine , was opened and in 1723 the Canal du Loing was added. This created a navigable waterway that connected Saint-Mammès on the Seine with Briare on the Loire.

Since the upper Loire was not without problems for shipping due to its irregular water level, a side canal running parallel to the river was built between 1827 and 1838 . The Canal latéral à la Loire is also the link to the Canal du Center . Inland vessels can travel from the English Channel via Paris and Lyon to the Mediterranean via the four successive canals .

The crossing of the Loire, the level of which was subject to strong fluctuations, remained problematic, five kilometers upstream from Briare. Between Châtillon-sur-Loire and Ousson-sur-Loire, the ships sailed in a one kilometer long canal embedded in the river bed. In 1881 there were first proposals to cross the river with a bridge corresponding to the Le Guétin canal bridge opened in 1838 . A brick bridge of this type would, however, have acted like a blocking dam during high water. In 1886 it was therefore decided to build a steel trough bridge on brick pillars, whereby a location at the level of the previous river crossing was eliminated. Instead, the canal was extended on the left bank of the Loire to Saint-Firmin-sur-Loire and on the other side of the river to the south-east of Briare, where a new port was being built.

The lead engineer was Léonce-Abel Mazoyer , the foundations and the masonry pillars were built by the company Gustave Eiffels . The engineering office Daydé & Pillé was responsible for the execution of the metal structures. The bridge was used for the first time on September 16, 1896 and finally opened to shipping on October 1, 1897.

Towards the middle of the 20th century, the Péniches were towed over the bridge by tractors . The Pont-Canal de Briare has been a listed building since 1976 .

description

The structure has a total length of 662.69 meters. The trough made of mild steel is 600 meters long, 6.20 meters wide and 2.20 meters deep. It weighs 13,600 tons, holds 13,680 tons of water and rests on 14 pillars in the river bed and two brick abutments on the embankment (right bank of the river) and the dike (in Saint-Firmin). The bridge is 9 meters above the normal level of the Loire.

The canal bridge corresponds to the Freycinet dimensions . The trough can be emptied in severe frost and for maintenance work; lock sluices are attached to both trough ends for this purpose . On both sides of the watercourse were towpaths created and placed lamps, standing at the abutments two brick candelabra .