Ponte Dom Luís I

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Coordinates: 41 ° 8 ′ 24 "  N , 8 ° 36 ′ 34"  W.

Ponte Luís I
Ponte Luís I
use Light rail , pedestrians, street
Crossing of Douro
place Porto - Vila Nova de Gaia
construction Truss - arch bridge
overall length 385.25 m
Longest span 172 m
height around 60 m
Clear height 10 m
start of building 1881
opening October 31, 1886
planner Théophile Seyrig
location
Ponte Dom Luís I (Portugal)
Ponte Dom Luís I
Dom Luís I Bridge aerial 2015.jpg
p1

The Ponte Luís I , even Ponte D. Luís I , or just Ponte Luis I called, originally called Ponte Luíz I designates a truss - arch bridge over the Douro between Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia in Portugal .

Surname

The bridge is named after the ruling King Dom Luís I at the time of its construction , whose title Cathedral is usually added to his name, but is usually abbreviated to "D." The name of the bridge occurs in different spellings; in literature it is also referred to as the Ponte de D. Luís .

description

The Ponte Luís I, opened in 1886, is the second oldest of the still existing bridges over the Douro in Porto, after the railway bridge Ponte Maria Pia was put into operation about one kilometer upstream in 1877 , also a truss arch bridge with which it is often confused. The Ponte Maria Pia was built by Gustave Eiffel's company and largely designed by his then partner Théophile Seyrig . Seyrig then separated from Eiffel and planned the Ponte Luís I for the Belgian company Société de Willebroeck .

A few meters below the Ponte Luís I was its predecessor, the Ponte pênsil , a suspension bridge , of which the two obelisks still function as pylon next to the northern gate tower.

The Ponte Luís I has two carriageway levels: The lower level replaces the former Ponte pênsil and is used for traffic between the districts of the Ribeira and the Cais de Gaia near the shore . It has its entrances in the gate towers or pillar bases of the great arch. Your two narrow lanes are bordered by two very narrow sidewalks.

The upper level on the arch has been reserved for the light rail trains of the Metro do Porto and pedestrian traffic since 2004 . Your carriageway slab cantilevers laterally over the arch and therefore offers considerably more space than the lower level. It was originally used for traffic between the high-lying districts of the city. A tram passed over them in the first half of the 20th century. After the construction of the four-lane Ponte do Infante about 600 m upstream, the upper level was closed to road traffic in 2004.

Technical details

A warehouse of the great arch
Arch apex, roadway girders and a hanger

The bridge, with its upper deck girder reaching far over the slope, is 385.25 m long and around 60 m high.

The wrought-iron , riveted truss bridge has a two-hinged arch with a span of 172 m, which is also the length of the lower deck. Unlike the Ponte Maria Pia with its crescent-shaped arch that tapers to a point, the arch of the Ponte Luís I has its greatest construction height at the bottom, on the mighty gate towers or pillar bases, which decreases slightly towards the apex of the arch. This gives the bow a very solid look. Nevertheless, the whole arch (as with the Ponte Maria Pia) is supported on each side on two large, steel bearings on the abutments integrated into the pillar bases . The pillar bases themselves, which seem to support the arch, do not play a static role for him, they only support the main pillars standing on them. This design was repeated several times later. B. at the Hell Gate Bridge in New York and the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia.

The upper deck girder is a 5 m high truss construction that merges with the arch in the apex. It is supported by the two half-timbered pillars on the gate towers, one half-timbered pillar on the southern and two short masonry pillars on the rocks on the northern slope, and one support each on the hips of the arch. The lower track is suspended from the arch with four pairs of hangers. Their almost head-high railings serve primarily to stiffen the roadway.

The bridge weighed a total of 3,045 tons at the time of completion, of which about 1,400 tons were accounted for by the arch.

history

Cantilever construction of the Ponte Luís I, in front of it the Ponte pênsil

In 1879 the government put out a tender for a bridge over the Douro with two carriageway levels as the successor to the Ponte pênsil. Ten well-known companies, including Eiffel & Cie., Submitted offers. The Belgian Société de Willebroeck was awarded the contract with the design by Théophile Seyrig, although its offer at 369,000 Escudos is significantly more expensive than the cheapest competitor's offer at 269,000 Esc. was.

Construction began in 1881. As with the Maria Pia Bridge, the great arch in was cantilever mounted with bracing to temporarily elevated main pillars. Seyrig published a detailed description of the process in his paper Pont D. Luiz I ° à Porto - Montage de l'arche principale .

The bridge was inaugurated on October 31, 1886 by King Ludwig I of Portugal (Dom Luís I), whose name it bears. It belongs to the area of ​​the historic old town of Porto and has therefore been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996 .

Web links

Commons : Ponte Dom Luís I  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See the board for the 100th anniversary next to the gate tower of the bridge
  2. ↑ On the official signposts without an accent, cf. Google Street View
  3. ↑ See the inscription on the gate tower of the bridge
  4. ^ Ponte de D. Luís on SIPA - Sistema de Informacao para o Património Arquitectónico
  5. ↑ Ponte de D. Luis on the website of the Patrimonio Cultural
  6. ↑ Manuel de Azeredo: A Ponte Luís I .