Vizcaya Bridge

The Vizcaya Bridge ( Puente Spanish (en) Vizcaya, Basque Zubia Bizkaiko ) is also called Puente de Portugalete or (after its founder, the Basque architect and engineer Alberto Palacio Elissague who has built it with the engineer Ferdinand Arnodin ) Puente Palacio. But in Spain it is mainly known under the name Puente Colgante ( "Hanging Bridge"). However, this is not a suspension bridge in the technical sense, but a transporter bridge (ie, a high-level bridge -attached hanging bark ). The ferry was opened in 1893 and is the oldest transporter bridge in the world. It is still in operation, connecting the members of the agglomeration of Bilbao places Portugalete and Getxo in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Vizcaya Province, which are by the Bilbao estuary, separated the navigable for seagoing mouth of the river Nervión in the Bay of Biscay, . On 13 July 2006 the building was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Specifications

The complex consists of 45 -meter high steel lattice towers on both banks with a 160 meter long horizontal shoring in between, where the transport barge is suspended. With approximately 14 by 10 meters large barge people and cars can be (eg to six cars) transported, the recordable payload is limited to 22 tons. Additionally, there is a pedestrian crossing at the top of the high bridge, which can be reached by elevator. The transporter bridge was the first of its kind and therefore posed for about 20 similar ferry systems in Europe, Africa and America. Since 1916, we have not pursued the construction of transporter bridges due to the low capacity and resorted to rigid bridges. Today, after all, there are nine transporter bridges in operation.

Construction of the Transporter Bridge

The high bridge was designed by the born in the French Basque Country engineer and architect Alberto Palacio, a pupil of Gustave Eiffel. The construction was necessary to create a connection between the situated on both banks of baths, which were used in the late 19th century by the workers and tourists. Palacio saw the challenge faced to create a crossing that does not impede vessel traffic and requires no long-drawn- ramps, as they themselves could not be integrated into the urban landscape. He solved the problem by a steel structure, which is stabilized by ropes. Since its completion in 1893 the Transporter Bridge connects the town with the district Portugalete Las Arenas Getxo the community on the other side of the estuary.

Destruction and Reconstruction

The horizontal connection was destroyed in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War to halt the advance of Franco's troops. In this case, the towers were drawn on both sides of the river affected. Alberto Palacio had to watch from his home in Portugalete with how his masterpiece was partially destroyed. He died two years later. After the war, the supporting structure was rebuilt and in 1941 the Transporter Bridge was put into operation again.

Current usage

The ferry is used by the company El Transbordador de Bizkaia, SL operated throughout the year and is open every day from morning to evening five zehn clock. At intervals of eight minutes cars and people are ferried during operating hours. The journey takes one minute and costs for a ride in the cab 30 cents (as of September 2010).

Crossing the bridge on foot costs five euros (as of September 2010). It is transported by a lift into the air and runs above the drive from a panorama on the other side. This panorama was inaugurated on 23 July 1999 in the presence of the Spanish King Juan Carlos and his wife Sofia.

The bridge is firmly integrated into the public transport network in Bilbao, saving passengers a detour of nearly twenty kilometers of motorway.

The bridge is by Metro (L 1, Station Areeta in Getxo and L 2, Station Portugalete ) highways.

World Heritage

On 13 July 2006, the Transporter Bridge was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The UNESCO considers the building as one of the outstanding steel structures from the time of the Industrial Revolution. The statement reads:

" Vizcaya Bridge, through the development of the hanging transporter mechanism and its fusion of ironworking technology with new steel cables, created a new form of construction did Influenced the development of bridges around the world over the next three Decades and exported French and Spanish technologies. "

"With the Bizkaia Bridge, a new design has been through the development of a hanging transport mechanism and the structural connection of steel construction with the new cable technology created, which has influenced the development of bridge construction in the next three decades the world and contributed to the export of French and Spanish technology. "