Vizcaya Bridge
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How it came to be
The Vizcaya Bridge spans the mouth of the Nervión in the Spanish province of Biscay, linking Portugalete with Las Arenas in Getxo. It had to join the two banks without blocking ships on the navigable estuary of Bilbao, and without the need for ramps. The Basque architect Alberto de Palacio designed it, and work began as a private venture in 1887.
Four towers carry a 160-metre crossbeam on parabolic cables, about 45 metres above the water at high tide. A trolley runs along the beam with a gondola hanging beneath it, ferrying people and vehicles across the river. The light twisted steel cables were designed by Ferdinand Arnodin. The bridge opened on 28 July 1893, the first in the world to carry passengers in a hanging gondola.
During the Spanish Civil War the upper section was blown up in 1937, and service stopped until 1941. A restoration in 1996 to 1998 removed later additions, and a renovation in 2011 replaced more than 250 parts without halting service. Of the more than twenty transporter bridges built worldwide, eight survive, and the Vizcaya Bridge was inscribed as a World Heritage site on 13 July 2006.
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