The Hercílio Luz Bridge, located in
Florianópolis
Florianópolis () is the capital and second largest city of the state of Santa Catarina, in the South region of Brazil. The city encompasses Santa Catarina Island and surrounding small islands, as well as part of the mainland. It has a populat ...
, the capital city of
Santa Catarina State
Santa Catarina (, ) is a state in the South Region of Brazil. It is the 7th smallest state in total area and the 11th most populous. Additionally, it is the 9th largest settlement, with 295 municipalities. The state, with 3.4% of the Brazili ...
in southern
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, is the first bridge constructed to link the Island of
Santa Catarina to the mainland.
It is the longest
suspension bridge
A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...
in Brazil. The central span was considered quite long (but not the longest, at 340 metres) at the time of its opening and is still one of the 100
largest suspension bridges.
Construction commenced on 14 November 1922 with the bridge being inaugurated on May 13, 1926. The total length is 819.471 metres, with 259 metres of viaduct from the island, a central span of 339.471 metres and 221 metres of viaduct from the mainland.
It was closed to the public on May 13, 1991 and reopened after complete restoration on December 30, 2019.
Historical background
The bridge was commissioned by
Hercílio Luz, then governor of the state of
Santa Catarina, to be the first permanent link between the island and the mainland. In addition to benefiting the then 40,000 residents of Florianópolis that were dependent on ferries to cross between the island and the mainland, Luz wanted to build the bridge to strengthen the position of Florianópolis as the state capital. At the time, other cities in the state considered the island to be too remote to be the administrative and political centre and consequently there was a movement to transfer the capital to
Lages
Lages is a Brazilian municipality located in the central part of the state of Santa Catarina, in the region known in Portuguese as "Planalto Serrano".
It is located in the mountain region of the state and is the largest municipality of it. It ...
.
Construction
![Ano_novo_em_Florianópolis_(2014-2015)_(2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Ano_novo_em_Florian%C3%B3polis_%282014-2015%29_%282%29.jpg)
The bridge was designed by the firm of
Robinson & Steinman, and was built by the
American Bridge Company
The American Bridge Company is a heavy/civil construction firm that specializes in building and renovating bridges and other large, complex structures. Founded in 1900, the company is headquartered in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pitts ...
(ABC). All the material it used was brought from the United States.
It has the fairly unusual feature that the truss carrying the roadway (a continuous stiffening component) is above the roadway itself and meets up with the eyebar chains making it non-uniform in height. A similar bridge, the
Walter Taylor Bridge
The Walter Taylor Bridge is a heritage-listed suspension bridge crossing the Brisbane River between Indooroopilly and Chelmer in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is shared by motor traffic and pedestrians and is the only habitable bridge in ...
, was built over the
Brisbane River
The Brisbane River is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the river, named it after the Go ...
in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
in 1936.
When completed the bridge was the longest
eyebar
In structural engineering and construction, an eyebar is a straight bar, usually of metal, with a hole ("eye") at each end for fixing to other components. Eyebars are used in structures such as bridges, in settings in which only tension, and ne ...
suspension span in existence at that time. The 1,113’ long design features towers with rocker bearings. ABC brought to the project its own experimental heat-treated eyebars, and as project contractor pioneered stiffening techniques that saved materials and money while providing greater rigidity. Another bridge of similar design, the
Silver Bridge
The Silver Bridge was an eyebar-chain suspension bridge built in 1928 and named for the color of its aluminum paint. The bridge carried U.S. Route 35 over the Ohio River, connecting Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio.
On Dec ...
over the Ohio River in the U.S., collapsed in 1967 due to a failure in one of the eyebars.
Luz didn't get to see his bridge completed, dying in 1924 twelve days after having inaugurated a wooden replica built in XV Square specifically for the symbolic act. Originally intended to be named ''the Independence Bridge'' this was changed after Luz's death in a posthumous tribute. The bridge was inaugurated on May 13, 1926.
The steel structure weighs approximately 5,000 tons, and the foundations and pillars consumed 14,250 m³ of concrete. The two towers rise 74 metres from sea level, and the central span is 43 metres tall.
Financing
From the beginning, the funding process was complicated. The first bank that had lent to the Catarina government failed. Thus, a new loan had to be obtained delaying the works. In addition, a manoeuvre of the U.S. bankers arranging the financing made the state of Santa Catarina liable for debts of the failed institution. In the end, the cost reached 14.478 trillion
reis
Reis may refer to :
* Reis (surname), a Portuguese and German surname
*Reis (military rank), an Ottoman military rank and obscure Lebanese/Syrian noble title
Currency
* Portuguese Indian rupia (subdivided into ''réis''), the currency of Portugu ...
, ten times the original estimate and almost double the state budget at the time. The repayment of loans, made by U.S. banks, was completed in 1978, more than 50 years after the inauguration of the bridge.
Closure
With two other bridges (Colombo Sales Bridge and Pedro Ivo Bridge) now linking the island to the mainland, the Hercílio Luz Bridge was closed in 1982 on safety concerns. It reopened again on March 15, 1988 to pedestrian traffic, bicycles, motorcycles and
horse-drawn vehicle
A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have m ...
s only. It closed completely on July 4, 1991, after a report analyzing the feasibility of reopening the bridge to vehicular traffic was presented in February 1990. In 1997 the landmark bridge was declared a historical and artistic monument.
Restoration of the bridge was investigated by a partnership involving the Federal Government, State Government, and the Municipality of Florianópolis. Submission of restoration plans occurred in mid-2013.
Restoration
![Ponte_Hercílio_Luz,_em_processo_de_restauração](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Ponte_Herc%C3%ADlio_Luz%2C_em_processo_de_restaura%C3%A7%C3%A3o.gif)
Restoration work on the approach spans began in 2006, and was completed in 2008 at a cost of .
Restoration work on the main span was supposed to begin in 2009, but after delays by the contractor the contract was split into two parts. Rehabilitation of the bridge was started in 2016 by the Portuguese company Teixeira Duarte. Four midspan piers and an under-deck truss were constructed to support the bridge deck during the restoration. The restoration was extensive, involving the replacement of the entire
eyebar
In structural engineering and construction, an eyebar is a straight bar, usually of metal, with a hole ("eye") at each end for fixing to other components. Eyebars are used in structures such as bridges, in settings in which only tension, and ne ...
suspension system, and the pin joints at the bases of the towers. Once reopened the bridge ie carrying one traffic lane in each direction, as well as bicycle and pedestrian paths. Several additions have been made to the original contracted cost. The final cost of the restoration is currently expected to be
The first eyebar was replaced on March 21, 2018
and the bridge's re-opening was on December 30, 2019, although some of the temporary supporting structures will not be removed until March 2020.
In December 2019, the state government confirmed the reopening of traffic on the bridge, which occurred on 30 December 2019. On that day, more than 200,000 people attended the event celebrating its reopening. The end of construction, however, will occur in 2020, with the removal of auxiliary structures over the central bridge span, alongside the installation of scenic lighting.
Initially, only pedestrians and cyclists were able to cross the bridge, but in January 2020, buses and emergency vehicles were allowed to begin crossing. In March, the bridge was opened to all traffic.
References
External links
*
Hercilio Luz bridge at historicbridges.orgHAERreport on the
Three Sisters (Pittsburgh)
The Three Sisters are three similar self-anchored suspension bridges spanning the Allegheny River in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at 6th, 7th, and 9th streets, generally running north/south. The bridges have been given formal names to honor ...
which mentions the ABC and the eyebar features (Page 29) Some article material adapted from this public domain document.
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Suspension bridges in Brazil
Bridges completed in 1926
Florianópolis
Buildings and structures in Santa Catarina (state)
Transport in Santa Catarina (state)
1926 establishments in Brazil