The

Passerelle Passerelle may refer to: * Passerelle (Luxembourg), a bridge in the city of Luxembourg * '' La Passerelle'', a newspaper in Besançon, France * Passerelle (theatre), a semicircular ramp or catwalk that extends from the stage of a theater around t ...

Simone-de-Beauvoir (initially known by the provisional name of passerelle Bercy-Tolbiac) is a bridge solely for pedestrians and cyclists across the Seine River in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. It is the 37th bridge on the Seine in Paris. It is located between the bridges of

Pont de Bercy The Pont de Bercy (English: Bridge of Bercy) is a bridge over the Seine in Paris. It links the 12th and 13th arrondissement of Paris by extending the Boulevard de Bercy and Boulevard Vincent-Auriol. In addition to the roadway, the bridge also ...

and

Pont de Tolbiac The pont de Tolbiac is a bridge across the Seine in Paris built between 1879 and 1882 by H.P. Bernard, and J.D.A. Pérouse. It crosses from the 12th to the 13th arrondissement, linking quai de Bercy to rue Neuve Tolbiac. Its nearest Pa ...

and links up the 12th and

13th In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave pl ...

arrondissements of Paris. Its nearest

Paris Metro Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

station is Quai de la Gare.

History

The central span of the bridge (named the ''peltinée'' by its architects, Feichtinger Architectes, under

Dietmar Feichtinger Dietmar Feichtinger (born 18 November 1961 in Bruck an der Mur) is an Austrian architect established since 1989 in Paris. Biography After graduating in 1988 from the Technical University of Graz with honors, he moved to Paris in 1989 where he fo ...

) is made of steel, weighs , is long and wide. The span was constructed by the Eiffel company (''Eiffel Constructions métalliques'') in the

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

and was transported by

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

, the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

, the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

and French rivers (with difficulties due to sluices being too narrow) to its destination, crossing Paris on a barge on November 30, 2005. It was hoisted in place in two hours on January 29, 2006, around three o'clock in the morning. The ''passerelle'' is characteristic of its time and distinguishes itself from the three other footbridges that already cross the Seine in Paris (

Passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor The passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor, formerly known as passerelle Solférino (or pont de Solférino), is a footbridge over the River Seine in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. It is served by the Paris Metro, Metro station Assemblée Nationale ...

formerly Passerelle Solférino,

Pont des Arts The Pont des Arts or Passerelle des Arts is a pedestrian bridge in Paris which crosses the River Seine. It links the Institut de France and the central square (''cour carrée'') of the Palais du Louvre, (which had been termed the "Palais des Ar ...

, and Passerelle Debilly). The geometry of its members reduces shearing. This is a lens-shaped structure. The rotational anchorage on its supports brings its structural height back down to the different levels of the quais at either end. Its five crossings pass over the river without supports in water. It rejoins the streets on the high bank (directly into the

parvise A parvis or parvise is the open space in front of and around a cathedral or church, especially when surrounded by either colonnades or porticoes, as at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. It is thus a church-specific type of forecourt, front yard or a ...

of the Bibliothèque François-Mitterrand (new ''Bibliothèque nationale de France''), on the

Rive Gauche The Rive Gauche (, ''Left Bank'') is the southern bank of the river Seine in Paris. Here the river flows roughly westward, cutting the city in two parts. When facing downstream, the southern bank is to the left, and the northern bank (or ''Rive D ...

(left bank), and directly into the

parc de Bercy The Parc de Bercy (English: Park of Bercy) is a public park located along the Rive Droite in the 12th arrondissement of Paris. Development started in 1994 on the site of a former wine depot, before an official opening three years later by Mayor Je ...

on the

Rive Droite The Rive Droite (, ''Right Bank'') is most commonly associated with the river Seine in central Paris. Here, the river flows roughly westwards, cutting the city into two parts. When facing downstream, the northern bank is to the right, and the sou ...

(right bank). It has double supports on the lower banks ( quai François-Mauriac on the ''rive gauche'', and quai de Bercy on the ''rive droite''). A protected area mid-way at the central lens allows pedestrians to shelter from rain. In March 2005,

Bertrand Delanoë Bertrand Delanoë (; born 30 May 1950) is a French retired politician who served as Mayor of Paris from 2001 to 2014. A member of the Socialist Party (PS), he previously served in the National Assembly from 1981 to 1986 and Senate from 1995 unt ...

, the mayor of Paris, proposed naming it "Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir" and inaugurated the bridge on July 13, 2006, with de Beauvoir's adoptive daughter Sylvie Le Bon-de Beauvoir in attendance.

Timeline

* September 2004: network deviation * October 2004: foundations laid * 2005 - 2006: links set up one by one * June 2006: dynamic and static works * July 2006: inaugurated and opened to the public

Galerie

File:La passerelle Simone-de-Beauvoir 3.jpg File:La passerelle Simone-de-Beauvoir 4.jpg File:Paris 13e Passerelle Simone-de-Beauvoir 744.jpg File:Passerelle Simone-de-Beauvoir @ Seine @ Paris (27898949234).jpg

Bibliography

Feichtinger Architectes, ''Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir, Paris'', AAM Editions 2007,

External links

Ville de Paris

Feichtinger ArchitectsArchitectural review and photos by a+t architecture publishers
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in the 12th arrondissement of Paris Buildings and structures in the 13th arrondissement of Paris Simone-de-Beauvoir Simone-de-Beauvoir Simone-de-Beauvoir Cyclist bridges

History

Timeline

Galerie

See also

Bibliography

External links