Vizcaya Bridge — Attraction in Portugalete

The Vizcaya Bridge (Bizkaiko Zubia in Basque, Puente de Vizcaya in Spanish) is a transporter bridge that links the towns of Portugalete and Las Arenas (part of Getxo) in the Biscay province of Spain, crossing the mouth of the Nervion River.

People in the area, and even the official website, commonly call it the Puente Colgante (literally "hanging bridge", used for suspension bridge in Spanish), although its structure is quite different from a suspension bridge.

The Vizcaya Bridge was built to connect the two banks which are situated at the mouth of the Nervion River. It is the world's oldest transporter bridge and was built in 1893, designed by Alberto Palacio, one of Gustave Eiffel's disciples. The Engineer Ferdinand Joseph Arnodin was in charge, and the main financier of the project was Santos Lopez de Letona. It was the solution given by the engineer to the problem of connecting the towns of Portugalete and Getxo without disrupting the maritime traffic of the Port of Bilbao and without having to build a massive structure with long ramps. Palacio wanted to design a bridge which could transport passengers and cargo, and that could allow ships to go through. Palacio's shuttle bridge was adequate and could be built for a reasonable price.

The service was only interrupted once, for four years, during the Spanish Civil War, when the upper section was dynamited. From his house in Portugalete, Palacio saw his masterpiece partially destroyed just before his own death.

On July 13, 2006, the Vizcaya Bridge was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. In Spain, it is the only monument in the Industrial Heritage category. UNESCO considers the bridge to be a perfect combination of beauty and functionality. It was the first to use a combination of iron technology and new steel cables which began a new form of constructing bridges which was later imitated throughout the world.

The bridge, still in use, is 164 meters long, and its gondola can transport six cars and several dozen passengers in one and a half minutes.

It operates every 8 minutes during the day (every hour at night), all year round, with different fares for day and night services, and is integrated into Bilbao's Creditrans (now "Barik") ticket system. An estimated four million passengers and half a million vehicles use the bridge annually.

There are two new visitor lifts installed in the 50 metre high pillars of the bridge that allow walking over the bridge's platform, from where there is a superb view of the port and the Abra bay.

The structure is made of four 61 metre towers which are the pillars and stand on the river banks. The towers are braced by iron cables to the crossbeam and are parallel to the river and by cables following the line of the bridge into the hill behind (on the Portugalete side) and the ground (on the Las Arenas side). The upper crossbeam which lies horizontally, rests between two towers by 70 suspension cables. They also help support a great amount of weight and are supported in the corbels which helps balance the weight. The gondola transports vehicles and they hang from a 36-wheeled caty and is 25m. long. It moves along the rails through the horizontal crossbeam.

The structure is 45 metres high and 160 metres long. In the final design they decided to use two horizontal girders to support the rails, and these are supported by four pillars which stand on four towers which are situated on the river banks. It is made of iron. Much iron was extracted from the mines of Vizcaya, which increased the mining and shipping industry. Therefore, the Vizcaya Bridge also represents the growth and triumph...

Locals Las Arenas and Portugalete living along the Nervion River in the conjoined with the Vizcaya Bridge which is the hanging or suspension bridge. Designed in 1893 by Basque architect Alberto de Palacio, the same man responsible for the Crystal Palace in Madrid’s Parque Retiro, the Vizcaya Bridge’s planning was meticulously thought-out. Not only did it ensure that the period’s tall ship traffic could pass uninhibited beneath its 200-foot-tall arches, but the 538-foot long bridge itself was designed to transport passengers and cargo in its own right. A gondola system still in use to this day was devised to ferry humans and vehicles together, suspended above the waterway, across to the other side. Since its opening in 1893, every day, each eight minutes, all day and night, a gondola suspended beneath the bridge’s upper walkway carries up to six vehicles and dozens of passengers from one bank of the Nervion to the other. With over a century of use under its belt, Vizcaya Bridge only experienced a single lapse into disuse; during the Spanish Civil War, dynamite was detonated on the bridge’s upper deck, and it took four years before the damage could be repaired, returning the beloved bridge to serviceable condition. In 2006, this truly remarkable piece of engineering was recognized by UNESCO, adding an extra degree of security that this rare, mutant bridge that genuinely has managed to do it all will continue to delight and service its passengers for...

El puente de Vizcaya es uno de los símbolos más reconocidos del patrimonio industrial del siglo XIX en Euskadi, un puente emblemático que es Patrimonio de la Humanidad desde el año 2006. Se trata del primer puente transbordador de estructura metálica construido en el mundo y que sigue en funcionamiento a día de hoy. Este puente cruza la ría del Nervión uniendo las localidades de Portugalete y el barrio de Las Arenas en Getxo. El puente de Vizcaya se construyó entre los años de 1890 y 1893 bajo el diseño del ingeniero Alberto de Palacio. Su construcción se hizo imprescindible debido a la necesidad de unir las dos localidades mediante una plataforma móvil por el que pasaran vehículos y personas evitando interferir en el comercio marítimo. Este puente tiene una longitud de 160 metros y su plataforma superior está a 61 metros de altura sobre el agua. Cuando nosotros estuvimos, en las taquillas no había nadie que nos atendiera o nos explicara el coste real para pasar con el coche. Tan solo había un cartel con unas indicaciones que no estaban del todo claras. El billete se puede comprar a través de una máquina que admite efectivo y tarjeta. Los precios varían mucho según la manera en que quieras cruzar el puente. Hay tres formas de cruzar la ría a través de este puente. Se puede pasar a pie o en coche en la barquilla transbordadora, esto tiene un coste de 0,55 euros/pax y 1,75 euros por el coche (en cada viaje caben 6 coches máximo). Si pasas con el coche, los billetes, tanto del vehículo como de las personas que van en él, se pueden pagar en el propio transbordador (solo en efectivo y sin billetes grandes). El tercer modo de cruzar es hacerlo por la pasarela que está en la parte superior del puente a 60 metros de altura. Es un plan más turístico, con un coste de 10 euros/pax, y que permite cruzar el río andando por la parte superior. Para subir a esta pasarela peatonal hay unas escaleras, aunque también se puede utilizar el ascensor. A pesar de que hay rejas y vallas de seguridad la altura puede dar cierto vértigo a algunas personas. El horario para acceder a esta pasarela es de 10 a 20 horas. La barcaza transportadora se desplaza colgada de unos cables de acero a unos tres o cuatro metros sobre el agua. El trayecto se hace bastante rápido y no da ninguna aprensión. De hecho este transbordador es utilizado a diario por infinidad de personas que se desplazan de una a otra población. Lógicamente, el trayecto entre Getxo y Portugalete se puede hacer tanto en uno como en otro sentido. Una magnífica obra de ingeniería que fue y sigue siendo un verdadero icono de la época de esplendor de la revolución industrial en Euskadi, en el que se utilizaron las nuevas técnicas del siglo XIX en la construcción de puentes de hierro. Desde su plataforma superior se tienen unas preciosas vistas de la ría y de Portugalete y Getxo. Es recomendable alejarse un poco del puente a través de los paseos que hay en las márgenes de la ría para poder hacer unas bonitas fotos del puente y verlo con...