In many European cities, bridges take pride of place among the sights. Amsterdam and St. Petersburg are famous for their bridges, seven bridges over the Danube adorn Budapest. Vasco da Gama Bridge occupies a special place among European bridges.
The Vasco da Gama Bridge, named after the great Portuguese navigator of the era of the great geographical discoveries, is located in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. It is famous for its length of 17 km 200 m, it is the longest bridge in Europe.
Bridge construction
The colossal bridge took a year and a half to build, preceded by a similar preparatory period. For such a huge structure, the period can be considered a record.
The name "Vasco da Gama" was not given to the bridge by accident, because traffic on it opened on April 29, 1998. This was the year when Portugal celebrated a big anniversary - the 500th anniversary of the opening of the sea route to India from Europe, the honor of which belongs to this Portuguese navigator.
The bridge was created in order to take on part of the traffic load that fell on the Bridge on April 25 - a suspension bridge that connects Lisbon with the city of Almada. In addition, it was necessary to connect the roads leading from the Portuguese capital.
Four large construction consortia worked on the construction of the bridge. 3,300 people took part in the construction.
Bridge characteristics
The bridge consists of several sections: northern access roads, northern viaduct (488 m), Expo viaduct (672 m), main bridge (829 m), central viaduct (6 351 m), southern viaduct (3 825 m) and southern access roads (3,895 m).
The Vasco da Gama Bridge strikes the imagination not only for its size, but also for its beauty. The Tagus River, through which it is laid - the largest river of the Iberian Peninsula, gives the bridge a special charm.
When designing such a long bridge, the sphericity of the planet had to be taken into account. If this had not been done, the height of its southern and northern extremities would differ by several tens of centimeters.
The bridge is of colossal strength. In 1755, Lisbon was destroyed by a terrible earthquake, the magnitude of which is estimated by modern scientists at 8, 7, but the Vasco da Gama bridge could withstand a stronger earthquake. The bridge will also stand up in the event of a hurricane, because it is able to withstand wind speeds of up to 250 km / h.
The creators of the bridge even took into account the impact on the environment. To keep it to a minimum, the lighting was designed so that the light from the lanterns did not hit the water at night.
The longest European bridge is crossed by a six-lane road, and two more lanes are added during peak hours. In good weather, it is allowed to drive over the bridge at a speed of 120 km / h, and in bad weather - 90 km / h.
