Luis I Bridge

In the city of Porto, there are quite a few bridges, but the most specific and famous of them is the bridge of Louis I. It is located on the river Duero and connects the town of Vilanova de Gaia with Porto. The bridge is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is part of the historic center of Porto.

The span structures of the bridge are based on a steel arch structure, the length of which is 172 meters, and 5 bridge pylons. The design uses only two steel span structures: the upper, located at a height of 62 meters, and having a length of 174 m, and the lower, whose length is 172 meters, and a height of 10 m.

This bridge was designed by engineer Teofilo Seyriga, who was a student of Gustav Eiffel himself. For its construction, 3,000 tons of steel were used, and on October 31, 1886 it was commissioned. On the upper span, a metro line is laid, while the lower span structure is designed for the highway, pedestrian sidewalk, and narrow-gauge railway.

During the recent reconstruction of the bridge, it was quite difficult to install scaffolding due to the complex geometry and very specific shape of the spans.