The Rande Bridge ( gl, Ponte de Rande, es, Puente de Rande) is a

cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern o ...

9 kilometres from the city of

Vigo Vigo ( , , , ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Penins ...

and 18 kilometres from the city of

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a Spanish city in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the capital of both the ''Comarca'' (County) and Province of Pontevedra, and of the Rías Baixas in Galicia. It is also the capital of its own municipality whi ...

, in the

Province of Pontevedra Pontevedra is a province of Spain along the country's Atlantic coast in southwestern Europe. The province forms the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of A Coruña, Lugo, and Ourense, th ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. It spans Vigo bay across the Rande Strait, linking the municipalities of

Redondela Redondela is a town in the province of Pontevedra, Galicia, northwestern Spain. The most famous icons of the village are its two major railway viaducts built in the nineteenth century. Due to these infrastructures Redondela is known under the nic ...

and

Moaña Moaña is a municipality of 18,709 inhabitants located in Galicia, Spain in the province of Pontevedra. It is one of the five municipalities with Bueu, Cangas do Morrazo, Marin and Vilaboa that forms the peninsula of O Morrazo. This peninsula sep ...

History

It was designed by

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

engineer

Fabrizio de Miranda Fabrizio de Miranda (30 October 1926 – 21 January 2015) was an Italian bridges and structural engineer and university professor. Career He graduated with a degree in civil engineering in 1950 from the University of Naples. Beginning in 19 ...

, the Spaniard Florencio del Pozo (who was also in charge of its foundations), and Alfredo Passaro. The bridge was built in 1978 and opened in 1981, just over a year before start of the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national foo ...

. It forms part of the AP-9 motorway. It was exclusively a toll bridge until 2006, when it became a

shadow toll A shadow toll is a contractual payment made by a government per driver using a road to a private company that operates a road built or maintained using private finance initiative funding. Payments are based, at least in part, on the number of veh ...

stretch. It has a length of 1,604 metres, its pillars have a height of 148 metres and its main span measures 401 metres. Although it was not the biggest (cable-stayed) span in the world when it opened, it was the longest span with more than two lanes. It currently carries around 50,000 vehicles per day. It is believed that there will be congestion problems in the near future, so the widening alternative has already been studied and projected. Since its opening to traffic in 1981, more than 230 million vehicles have passed through it. It did cost 3,658 million pesetas to build at the time. In February 2015, Widening works have started, with an estimated investment of 107,9 million euro.

References

{{Reflist

Sources

* (it) De Miranda F., Leone A., Passaro A., 1979, ''Il ponte strallato sullo stretto di Rande presso Vigo'', in "Costruzioni Metalliche", 2/1979. * (it) De Miranda F., 1980, ''I ponti strallati di grande luce'', Zanichelli Bologna (I), pp. 259–269.

External links

flickr photo
Bridges completed in 1978 Cable-stayed bridges in Spain Bridges in Galicia (Spain) Road bridges in Spain Former toll bridges

History

See also

References

Sources

External links