Pont de Gueuroz

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coordinates: 46 ° 7 '43 "  N , 7 ° 2' 25"  E ; CH1903:  569 209  /  108647

Pont de Gueuroz (old bridge)
Pont de Gueuroz (old bridge)
View from the west
use Road bridge
Crossing of Trent
place Vernayaz
construction Concrete arch bridge
overall length 168 m
Longest span 99 m
height 187 m
start of building 1932
completion 1934
opening June 10, 1934
planner Alexandre Sarrasin
location
Pont de Gueuroz (Canton of Valais)
Pont de Gueuroz
Above sea level 652  m above sea level M.
Ponts de Geuroz, vue d'en dessous.jpg
Left the new bridge, right the old one
p1

The Pont de Gueuroz (also Pont du Gueuroz ) is an arched bridge made of reinforced concrete and part of the canton road from Martigny to Salvan in the Swiss canton of Valais . It crosses the Gorge du Trient (  Trient Gorge ) at an altitude of 187 m at the hamlet of Gueuroz (political municipality Vernayaz ) . Until the completion of the Europe Bridge on the Brenner motorway in 1963, it was the highest road bridge in Europe for 29 years, until the Tamina Bridge was completed in 2017 it was the highest road bridge in Switzerland.

history

The structure was erected from 1932 to 1934. The Valais civil engineer Alexandre Sarrasin (1895–1976) was the structural engineer for the bridge, Richard Coray created the falsework . In the competition for the new bridge, Sarrasin prevailed against Robert Maillart , who is considered the most renowned Swiss reinforced concrete engineer of his time. The Pont de Gueuroz, constructed according to the principle of the stiffened rod arch, is Sarrasin's main work as a bridge builder. The bridge is extremely delicate. It is 168 m long and has a span of 98.6 m. The 5 m wide carriageway slab is seamlessly connected to its massive boundary wall. It not only serves to ensure the safety of motorists, but also to stiffen the bridge. The concrete pioneer Sarrasin tried to use the material sparingly. As one of the first structures in the world, the vibration method was used to pour the concrete . Since the road has an incline of 5%, the highest point of the bridge is more than 190 m above the Trento river.

In 1906 Salvan was opened up by the Martigny – Châtelard railway line. The construction of the Pont de Gueuroz as part of a new road from Martigny to Salvan replaced the existing road from Vernayaz to Salvan, which with its 37 bends was unsuitable for motorized traffic. The old road is remarkably well preserved and is now used as a hiking trail.

New bridge

With a traffic load of 13 tons, Sarrasin's bridge was less and less able to meet the requirements. In addition to the existing bridge, a new truss bridge was built between 1993 and 1994 , which has since taken up motorized traffic. The new steel-concrete composite bridge is designed in such a way that it does not visually compete with the old bridge. The old Pont de Geueroz can still be used by pedestrians and cyclists .

useful information

The Pont de Gueuroz is a listed building (medium protection level, B object) and was thoroughly repaired in 2004-2005. The bridge was photographed for some time in the Museum of Modern Art in New York . The bridge is illuminated at night.

literature

  • Eugen Brühwiler, Pierre Frey (Ed.): Alexandre Sarrasin. Structures in concrete armé. Audace et invention . Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes, Lausanne 2002, ISBN 2-88074-497-0 .
  • Georges de Kalbermatten: Ponts du Valais . Editions Pillet, Martigny 1991.

Web links

Commons : Ponts du Gueuroz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ IVS: Itinéraire VS 700.0.1 Vernayaz / Pied du Mont - Salvan / Le Pontet. Inventory of historical traffic routes in Switzerland, accessed on October 10, 2017 .
  2. ↑ B – Objects VS 2018 . Canton du Valais Inventaire PBC, Objets B, État: 1.1.2018 (pas de changements pour 2018) / Kanton Wallis KGS inventory, B objects, status: 1.1.2018 (no changes compared to the previous year). In: babs.admin.ch / kulturgueterschutz.ch. Federal Office for Civil Protection FOCP - Department of Cultural Property Protection, January 1, 2018, accessed on December 31, 2017 (PDF; 357 kB, 11 pages, updated annually, no changes for 2018).
  3. ↑ https://www.moma.org/learn/resources/archives/EAD/MoMAExhFiles1960sb.html ( Memento from April 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) The Museum of Modern Art Exhibition Records 1960-1969