Puente La Milagrosa is a historic bridge in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government. Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...

. The

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

bridge carries two lanes of vehicular traffic for the two-way Calle Guadalupe ( PR-14R). It runs west to east and crosses

Río Portugués Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

connecting Barrio Quinto in the west to

Barrio Machuelo Abajo Machuelo Abajo is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Canas Urbano, Magueyes Urbano, Portugués Urbano, and San Antón, Machuelo Abajo is one of the municipality's five originally rural barrios that are ...

in the east. It is located 0.7 km northeast of

Plaza Las Delicias Plaza Las Delicias is the main plaza in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The square is notable for its fountains and for the various monuments it contains. The historic Parque de Bombas and Ponce Cathedral buildings are located within the plaza, ...

. It is part of the historic Carretera Central.

History

Mapa 'Contornos de Ponce (Puerto Rico)' por Francisco Coello (1822-1898) (DP26)

The crossing over Río Portugués where the current bridge is located was a ford until 1842, when the first bridge, a wooden bridge, was built. The bridge that replaced the wooden bridge dates from the 19th century when Carretera Central was built to connect the city of Ponce to the city of San Juan. It is a component of said historic road. The replacement Puente La Milagrosa was built in 1868 under the direction of Spanish engineer Miguel Martínez de Campos y Antón (b. Madrid 30 November 1839 - d. 20 November 1906). It was rebuilt starting in 1990, and reopened in 1992 as part of city-wide improvements in preparation for the celebration of its 300th anniversary. This bridge over Río Portugués is one of seven bridges that cross Río Portugués in the city of Ponce and, built in 1868, it is also one of the oldest.

Description

This steel stringer/multi-beam/girder bridge had an 80.1 sufficiency rating in 2019, and consists of an 106 feet span length and a total bridge length of 178 feet. It has ArtDeco tones, most of them expressed via the use of the traditional pink marble used on city of Ponce sidewalks. These tones are used on the handrails decorating the roadway curbs as well as both of its sidewalks.

Location

The bridge is located 0.7 miles northeast of

, the historic downtown area of the city of Ponce. It runs on a west-to-east axis. On its western end is Barrio Quinto's residential neighborhood, including the Colegio La Milagrosa private school. To the east is the prestigious neighborhood of La Alhambra, the first large upper class suburban expansion developed in Puerto Rico (early 1900s). Also on the western bank of Rio Portugues is the Club Deportivo de Ponce, an upper-class social club that operated from the 1920s to the 1970s. What is left of the now-abandoned (2020) Club Deportivo can be seen southeast of the bridge. The bridge is also the northern terminus of

Parque Lineal Veredas del Labrador The Parque Lineal Veredas del Labrador, also known as Parque Lineal de Ponce, Veredas del Labrador, or just Parque Lineal, is a passive park in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The park links to, but it is different from, a neighboring park also currently ...

, which runs along the banks of

, under this bridge. The bridge is part of a section of Calle Guadalupe that runs together with PR-14R.

Architecture

The bridge's architectural style follows the

tradition. It has 24 lampposts, 12 on each side, and its sidewalks and walkway railings are covered in pink marble. The bridge's main span material is steel and its main span design is stringer/multi-beam or girder. The deck is cast-in-place concrete with a Monolithic Concrete wearing surface (concurrently placed with structural deck). It has an 106.3 feet span length, and 178.5 feet total length.''National Bridge Inventory Data: Puerto Rico, Ponce.''
James Baughn. National Bridge Inventory. Item # 1478898. 2018. Accessed 31 July 2020.

Gallery

File:Vista del Parque Lineal Veredas del Labrador, Bo. Quinto, Ponce, PR, mirando al sur desde el Puente La Milagrosa (DSC01861).jpg, A view from the bridge of

, looking south File:Letrero próximo al Puente La Milagrosa, C. Guadalupe, Bo. Quinto, Ponce, PR, mirando al norte desde la entrada al puente (DSC01851A).jpg, A sign next to the bridge

References

External links

1930s photo of Puente La Milagrosa, looking west.
Accessed 25 December 2020
Archived
{{DEFAULTSORT:Puente de Los Leones Bridges completed in 1868 Bridges in Ponce, Puerto Rico Barrio Machuelo Abajo Barrio Quinto 1860s establishments in Puerto Rico Art Deco architecture in Puerto Rico Road bridges in North America 1868 establishments in the Spanish Empire Road bridges in insular areas of the United States