Bridges_Presentations


 * [[image:Vasco_da_Gama_Bridge_02.jpg width="370" height="228" align="left"]]

VASCO DA GAMA BRIDGE: ** is located next to the site where Expo '98 stood and today stands Parque das Nações (Park of Nations). It's located on the eastern end of Lisbon which, until the beginning of the nineties, was the poor side of the capital, full of abandoned containers, garbage depots, junkyards, slaughterhouses, arms factories, refineries and gas terminals, in short, a rundown area in dire need of redevelopment. Transforming this public dump into a quality area, decontaminating 330 hectares of land and cleaning up 5 kilometers of river front took four years. __

LOCATION __:

Vasco da Gama Bridge crosses the Tagus River (Rio Tejo) about 20 km upstream from the 25th April Bridge, located in the heart of Lisbon. It opened a second north-south corridor and is part of a new road corridor to Spain __



STRUCTURE __:

its a cable-stayed bridge: the longest in Europe and one of the largest of its kind in the world total length of crossing: 17.2 km length of marine viaduct: 9 km length of the cable-stayed main arch: 826 m (192 cables) navigation deck clearance: 47 m above water level on the North Channel reinforced concrete structure with main deck stayed to main pylons central H-shaped pylons are 155m high 

__BACKGROUND INFORMATION __: April 1994: Lusoponte, a consortium of Portuguese, British and French companies won the international concession to design, construct, finance and operate the new crossing, the Vasco da Gama Bridge February 1995: beginning of construction 29 March 1998: opened to traffic (ahead of schedule) 2000: awarded first prize by the Ibero-Americana Institution of Architecture and Civil Engineering __ Teresas opinion on the bridge: __ was an awesome experience to cross the Vasco da Gama Bridge with my husband and two young sons one late evening a couple of days after it was inaugurated in April 1998. It was a fantastic sight to see! As we approached it from the north, the dozens of cables in the main bridge gave the impression of a huge white sail of an equally huge tall ship sailing by. This detail, whether achieved on purpose or not, will stay in my mind forever and will always remind me of the theme of Expo '98 - the Oceans and all things related -, which would open in a few weeks' time. What an appropriate choice in a nation of sailors and discoverers who owned half the world at the end of the 15th century? The southward crossing seemed like an endlessly pleasant cruise while I tried to take in every little detail of the amazing structure: from the extremely elegant and light-looking streetlamps to the gentle upward slope towards the main arch, and then the gradual downward sway towards the west before that long stretch towards the southern bank of the Tejo. Eight years later I still get goosebumps when I cross Vasco da Gama Bridge, and I'm still magnetized by it and its surroundings. When I go south, I often make a longer detour just to enjoy its beauty, elegance and rhythm. For me, it's a masterpiece of architecture and engineering!

** SOLKAN BRIDGE: **



World’s largest arch bridge of worked stone. Year of construction: 1905 Designed by Rudolf Jaussner and constructed by Leopold Orley Constructed because of the need for additional railway connection between Vienna and Trieste.


 * EISERNER STEG: **

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LOCATION__:

Frankfurt, Germany River that the bridge crosses: The main river It travels 524 kilometers from east to west, and it empties into the Rhine river. Sourses: Fichtel Mountains and Franked Alb

__BACKGROUND INFORMATION__:

1830: a chain bridge was proposed 1855: a flying bridge was proposed 1867:the citizens of Frankfurt took matters into their own hands. They formed a company to build the bridge and made a plan to charge people to go across the bridge and after they recovered the money expended in building the bridge they would give it to the city.

__ STRUCTURE: __ 174 meters long. 5 and a half meters wide. Weights 350 tones And the height above water is 6 and a half meters. Optically the bridge It’s a suspension bridge, but actually it’s a truss bridge. This construction allows a heavier load. The bridge was a great success in Frankfurt. The engineer was Johann Peter Wilhelm Schmick The builders were Knabenschuh and Wallot.