D. Maria Pia Bridge




D. Maria Pia bridge, nammed after D. maria Pia de Sabóia, was built at the end of the 19th century, enable the linking of Porto to Lisbon by train. At That time the last railway station was in Devesas, Vila Nova de Gaia. . It began being built in 1876 and it was inaugurated in 1877. The bridge was needded due to the economic and social developement of the city and it replaced the ancient Pensil bridge.

The changings operated by the introduction of this means of transport in the city are shown up the constrution of new railway structures ( bridge, tunnels, railway- station) and by the changing of the city and the location of the railway station.


The building enterprise was selected in May 1871. The one chosen was the french firm iffel et ce, Fiver Liles et Batignoles . The Eiffel Project meant the construction of na horizontal span over na arch at the highest level of the banks and it worried about the landscape of the Douro Valley., searching for the place where the river was not so large.


The span, 354 m long and 4,5 m large, is 61 m in water level, building on six pillars that support on na arc with a range of 160 m and 42,60 m arrow, formed by two parabolic, curves that at the top has a separation of 10 m. Rests on roller friction which enables, its expansion i the longitudinal direction and becames independent of the movement of arms.

The constrution contract was awarded on January 5, 1876 and the contract provided for a construction period of 18 months. The Winter has delayed the works that fixed in 22 months ending on october 187. On the conclusion was made na experience of resistence and circulated two trains.Nesta construção, vigiada pelos engenheiros Pedro Inácio Lopes e Manuel Afonso Espregueira, trabalharam cerca de duzentos operários. A montagem do arco, a operação mais delicada exigiu a presença dos engenheiros franceses Emil Nouguier e Marcel Augevère.


The bridge was inaugurated on 4 November with the assistance of the king and queen, who was named the bridge. This structure remainded operational until June 1, 1991. The bridge was used for over 100 years in the service of railways .

A new journey began here in Comenius Club. The guys went to other school an we had to create a new group. This time we are: Ana, Ana I., Francisca, Inês, Claudia and Joana. We get to know each other and now we get on very well.
This year we had decided that our work was all coming in one bridge: D. Maria Bridge. It's a really old bridge that doesn't work anymore. It is situated in Oporto. We elaborate a detailed Powerpoint, we took in small pieces of the bridge and now we are working on it.
We are also planning our trip to Germany. We are very excited about it and we can't wait!

Time to go... There's work waiting for us.

Cheerios!