I think we should have a competition to see how many old film titles I have used as a ‘header’ to our blog over the years – I can certainly think of a few, and today is of course, a further addition to that list. I wanted to finish the story of our new bridge here in Pontevedra that I started a couple of months ago – not so much a case of the ‘Bridges of Madison County’ (oops, there I go again), but more the ‘Bridges of Pontevedra Province’.

Architecturally, we have a real potpourri of bridges in our city, from the extremely old, to the elegant, to the downright ugly (and I think I already know what category this new bridge belongs to!) Probably the ugliest of all is the huge concrete motorway bridge which spans the Lérez river nearest to the sea. I believe that it is know as a rigid frame bridge, built in large concrete sections and then simply hoisted into place using different types of concrete supports – hardly the most attractive or imaginative design, and pretty ugly at the same time.

Next comes the rather charming La Barca bridge, an open-spandrel deck arch, suspended high above the river – this is probably the busiest of the local traffic bridges, and is by far the biggest bottleneck at peak times. No doubt it is the reason behind this latest construction, in an attempt to spread the traffic load.

The new bridge (I don’t know if it has a name yet), comes between La Barca and the old Roman bridge, the Burgo, which as I mentioned in an earlier post, helped put the ‘Ponte’ in the name Pontevedra. This is a simple Roman stone arch bridge, and yet its simplicity is also a part of its beauty.

The next, quite nondescript bridge, is just a busy workhorse, that might even be busier than La Barca, but does certainly not experience the same level of queuing. It is a low, wide cantilever span bridge, which I think is called the Santiago bridge, simply as it links the old road to Santiago.

Finally, we have the Tirantes bridge, which must be the most visually attractive, or at least most original in its design. It is a single tower, cable-stay suspension bridge, with a very dramatic, sweeping design – illuminated at night it is certainly quite a visual landmark for our city.

So, this brings me back to the new bridge. It is a solid ribbed, tied arch bridge, which looks like it came in a self-assembly kit from Ikea! (Actually that comment probably does a disservice to Ikea). Suffice to say that I think it’s a bit of an eyesore that stands out for the wrong reasons. Firstly, because of the lack of imagination in its construction, and secondly because…. well, it’s just plain ugly and simply doesn’t fit in. In my photo you can actually see the contrasting, old Roman Burgo bridge in the background. I will allow you to judge for yourselves…..

I think we should have a competition to see how many old film titles I have used as a ‘header’ to our blog over the years – I can certainly think of a few, and today is of course, a further addition to that list. I wanted to finish the story of our new bridge here in Pontevedra that I started a couple of months ago – not so much a case of the ‘Bridges of Madison County’ (oops, there I go again), but more the ‘Bridges of Pontevedra Province’.

Architecturally, we have a real potpourri of bridges in our city, from the extremely old, to the elegant, to the downright ugly (and I think I already know what category this new bridge belongs to!) Probably the ugliest of all is the huge concrete motorway bridge which spans the Lérez river nearest to the sea. I believe that it is know as a rigid frame bridge, built in large concrete sections and then simply hoisted into place using different types of concrete supports – hardly the most attractive or imaginative design, and pretty ugly at the same time.

Next comes the rather charming La Barca bridge, an open-spandrel deck arch, suspended high above the river – this is probably the busiest of the local traffic bridges, and is by far the biggest bottleneck at peak times. No doubt it is the reason behind this latest construction, in an attempt to spread the traffic load.

The new bridge (I don’t know if it has a name yet), comes between La Barca and the old Roman bridge, the Burgo, which as I mentioned in an earlier post, helped put the ‘Ponte’ in the name Pontevedra. This is a simple Roman stone arch bridge, and yet its simplicity is also a part of its beauty.

The next, quite nondescript bridge, is just a busy workhorse, that might even be busier than La Barca, but does certainly not experience the same level of queuing. It is a low, wide cantilever span bridge, which I think is called the Santiago bridge, simply as it links the old road to Santiago.

Finally, we have the Tirantes bridge, which must be the most visually attractive, or at least most original in its design. It is a single tower, cable-stay suspension bridge, with a very dramatic, sweeping design – illuminated at night it is certainly quite a visual landmark for our city.

So, this brings me back to the new bridge. It is a solid ribbed, tied arch bridge, which looks like it came in a self-assembly kit from Ikea! (Actually that comment probably does a disservice to Ikea). Suffice to say that I think it’s a bit of an eyesore that stands out for the wrong reasons. Firstly, because of the lack of imagination in its construction, and secondly because…. well, it’s just plain ugly and simply doesn’t fit in. In my photo you can actually see the contrasting, old Roman Burgo bridge in the background. I will allow you to judge for yourselves…..