The Governor Nobre de Carvalho Bridge, also known as the Macau–Taipa Bridge, is a dual-lane two-way
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
connecting
Macau Peninsula
The Macau Peninsula is the most populous and historical part of Macau. It has an area of () and is geographically connected to Guangdong Province at the northeast through an isthmus wide. The peninsula, together with downtown Zhuhai, sits o ...
near
Casino Lisboa and the island of
Taipa
Taipa ( zh, t=氹仔, ; pt, Taipa, ) was a former island in Macau, presently united with the island of Coloane by reclaimed land known as Cotai. Administratively, the boundaries of the traditional civil parish Freguesia de Nossa Senhora do Ca ...
at the northern slope of Taipa Pequena (Small Taipa Hill) crossing the former
BaÃa da Praia Grande. It is the first bridge in
Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
, to connect the peninsula and Taipa. It is locally known as "The Old Bridge" ().
The
flag of Macau
The flag of Macau, officially the regional flag of the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (; pt, Bandeira regional da Região Administrativa Especial de Macau ) is light green with a lotus flower above the ...
uses this bridge as an emblem.
History
The bridge was designed by
Edgar Cardoso Edgar Cardoso (11 May 1913, Resende – 5 July 2000, Porto) was a noted Portuguese civil engineer and university professor. In Portugal, Edgar Cardoso was a pioneer of experimental analysis of structures and of high precision instruments developed ...
. Construction started in June 1970, during Portuguese rule. With a length of and a width of , it was open to traffic in October 1974. The middle of the bridge is raised over a distance of 1213 m to allow vessels to pass through a 73 m wide passage. The highest point of the bridge is above sea level.
''Ponte Macau-Taipa - 5 de Outubro de 1974''
/ref> Seen from a distance, this part of the bridge resembles a flat triangle. It is named after José Manuel de Sousa e Faria Nobre de Carvalho, the Governor of Macau
The governor of Macau ( pt, Governador de Macau; ) was a Portuguese colonial official who headed the colony of Macau, before 1623 called captain-major ( pt, Capitão-mor). The post was replaced on 20 December 1999 upon the transfer of sovere ...
from 25 November 1966, to 19 November 1974. By a later rearrangement of the shoreline, the bridge was shortened to .
Due to the construction around Casino Lisboa, the bridge was temporarily closed in 2005. As of 2006, the bridge is open again, but only to buses, taxis, and emergency vehicles.
Architecture
The bridge is meant to take the shape of a dragon, with Casino Lisboa representing the dragon's head, and Taipa Monument on Taipa Pequena the dragon's tail.
See also
*Transport in Macau
Transport in Macau includes road, sea, rail and air transport. Road transport is the primary mode of transport within Macau, although a new rail system opened in December 2019 serving the areas of Taipa and Cotai. The main forms of public transp ...
References
External links
*Decree-Law No. 70/95/M, Regulations for the Nobre de Carvalho Bridge, Friendship Bridge and Access Viaducts â€
in Portuguese
an
in Chinese
via the official website of the Printing Bureau.
Governador Nobre de Carvalho
Governador Nobre de Carvalho
Transport in Macau
1974 establishments in Macau
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