The PSD regrets the “state of abandonment” of the D. Maria Pia bridge, between Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia, and demands that the Government reveal the future of this infrastructure, according to a petition to which Lusa had access.
The D. Maria Pia bridge is listed as a national monument for its great architectural beauty and was designed by Gustave Eiffel. It has been 31 years since the railroad stopped using the bridge. The mentioned bridge is in a deplorable state of deterioration and without knowing a concrete plan for its reconversion and use”, reads the text signed by the deputy Firmino Pereira.
The Social Democrat demands to know if Infrastructures of Portugal is developing any recovery project.
Are there projects in the pipeline and when are they expected to be completed? What is the use of the infrastructure in Portugal for the D. Maria Pia Bridge?”, are some of the questions sent by the PSD to the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Pedro Nuno Santos.
Recalling, in the text, that “many studies were carried out by the City Councils of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia”, Firmino Pereira mentions that “until now, nothing concrete has materialized” and asks the tutelage to reveal whether the Infrastructures of Portugal “Considers carrying out reconversion works on the D. Maria Pia bridge”.
In 2017, Infraestruturas de Portugal announced that it had studied the use of the bridge for the installation of a pedestrian circuit and bicycle path. The D. Maria Pia bridge is abandoned and I consider it unconditional that there is no will on the part of the State to put this emblematic work, from the point of view of engineering, at the service of people and as a tourist attraction”, he defends the deputy of the PSD.
Firmino Pereira emphasizes that “the D. Maria Pia bridge deserves to have a future in terms of use, which is not compatible with the lack of definition and the contempt of the managing entity of the bridge” and that more than three decades have passed since the closure of This crossing.
The D. Maria Pia Bridge as a national monument has too long to have a useful present and future and I consider its recovery imperative and a priority”, he concludes.
It is a bridge where trains passed over the Douro for 114 years and has not had any functional use since 1991, when the new São João railway bridge came into operation.
Inaugurated in 1877 by the queen who gave it its name, the Maria Pía Bridge is considered the first great work of Gustavo Eiffelhaving obtained an international engineering award.
With 1,600 tons of iron, it was a laboratory for innovative technical solutions for the time, such as the design of a 54-meter deck on a single 160-meter rope arch.
About 150 people participated in its construction, for a year and a half.
There are only two equal bridges, one in France and one in Germany, both built from the structure that connects the two banks of the Duero.
After its deactivation, several destinations were assigned to the Maria Pia Bridge, in addition to its dismantling, without any progress being made.
In 2004, a protocol was signed with the Chambers of Porto and Gaia for the transformation of the old railway bridge into a bike lane, which would involve an investment of 1.5 million euros, which has not yet been fulfilled.
In 2007, Refer commemorated the 130th anniversary of the Maria Pia Bridge with the announcement of an investment of two million euros to paint the structure.
Three years later, in 2010, an outdoor activities company tried, in vain, to obtain authorization to carry out bungee jumping from that bridge over the Duero.
In 2013, as part of the Norte 41 International Ideas Competition, two architects proposed the relocation of the Maria Pia Bridge within the Companhia Aurifícia block.
Source: Observadora
