Maria Pia Bridge
in Porto, Portugal
An impressive wrought iron bridge built to carry a railway across the River Douro near the centre of Porto.
Designed by Gustave Eiffel and Theophile Seyrig, and constructed between 1876 and 1877 by G. Eiffel & Cie of France. [1].
The better-known, but superficially similar Dom Luiz 1 Bridge was designed by Seyrig and opened in 1886. It is a double-deck road and tramway bridge. Constructional details show marked differences between the two bridges. Some sources state that the lower deck on the Dom Luiz 1 Bridge serves to tie the arches, in which case they will relieve the abutments from the thrust from the arches, unlike the case with the Maria Pia Bridge.
Information on aesthetic and structural aspects of the two bridges is available in a recent Paper by J. J. West.[2]