The President Costa e Silva Bridge, commonly known as the Rio–Niterói Bridge, is a

box girder bridge A box girder bridge, or box section bridge, is a bridge in which the main beams comprise girders in the shape of a hollow box. The box girder normally comprises prestressed concrete, structural steel, or a composite of steel and reinf ...

crossing

Guanabara Bay Guanabara Bay ( pt, Baía de Guanabara, ) is an oceanic bay located in Southeast Brazil in the state of Rio de Janeiro. On its western shore lie the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Duque de Caxias, and on its eastern shore the cities of Niterói a ...

, in the State of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. It connects the cities of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

and

Niterói Niterói (, ) is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality of the state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro in the Southeast Region, Brazil, southeast region of Brazil. It lies across Guanabara Bay facing the city of Rio de Janeiro and forms ...

. It is currently the second longest

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 ...

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

, after the Metro Line 1 bridge, and the 48th longest in the world in 2020. From its completion in 1974 until 1985 it was the world's second-longest bridge, second only to the

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (french: Chaussée du lac Pontchartrain), also known simply as The Causeway, is a fixed link composed of two parallel bridges crossing Lake Pontchartrain in southeastern Louisiana, United States. The longer of the ...

. It is long – over water and the bridge's central span is high in order to allow the passage of hundreds of ships entering and leaving the bay every month. At the time it was completed, the central span was the longest box girder in the world; it has since been surpassed by the main span of the Stolma Bridge (1998) and the main span of the second Shibanpo Bridge (2006). It carries over 150,000 vehicles daily, which pay a toll only when entering

of R$4.30 (as of June 2018), about US$1.10, GBP£0.85 or €0.97. It has 18 access points and eight overpasses. Officially, it is part of federal highway

BR-101 The BR-101 (also called ''Translitorânea'' (transcoastal), officially named ''Rodovia Governador Mário Covas''.Ponte S.A. under a 20-year concession until 1 June 2015 since when Ecoponte has managed the bridge.

History

The concept dates to 1875, when a bridge-and-tunnel connection was envisioned between two cities separated by Guanabara Bay and connected by road only via inland journey of more than through the city of

Magé Magé () is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. ''Magepe-Mirim'' () was established in 1566 by Portuguese colonists. It is considered to be a calm place, especially compared to nearby Rio. Politics In the October 5th, ...

. In 1963, a working group was created to study a bridge-building project. On 29 December 1965, an executive committee was formed to run the bridge-building program. President

Artur da Costa e Silva Artur da Costa e Silva (; 3 October 1899 – 17 December 1969) was a Brazilian Army Marshal and the second president of the Brazilian military government that came to power after the 1964 coup d'état. He reached the rank of Marshal of the Br ...

signed a decree on 23 August 1968, authorizing the project for the bridge. The bridge program was run by Minister of Transport Mario Andreazza. Construction began symbolically on 9 November 1968, in the presence of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

on her only visit to Brazil. Actual work began in December 1968 Initially, the bridge was constructed by a consortium of Brazilian companies led by Camargo Correa SA (for the concrete works) and by

Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company was a UK bridge works and structural steel contractor based in Darlington. It built landmarks including the Victoria Falls Bridge in Zimbabwe; the Tees Transporter Bridge; the Forth Road and Humber suspe ...

and Redpath Dorman Long in association with Montreal Engenharia of Brazil (for the steel navigation spans). On January 26th, 1971, President

Emílio Garrastazu Médici Emílio Garrastazu Médici (; 4 December 1905 – 9 October 1985) was a Brazilian military leader and politician who was the president of Brazil from 1969 to 1974. His authoritarian rule marked the apex of the Brazilian military regime. Early ...

signed a decree taking control of the consortium. The bridge opened on Monday, 4 March 1974, with the official name of President Costa e Silva Bridge. "Rio-Niterói" started as a descriptive nickname that soon became better known than the official name. Today hardly anyone refers to it by its official name. In 2012 a bill was introduced to change its official name, President Costa e Silva Bridge - the second president of the

Brazilian military dictatorship The military dictatorship in Brazil ( pt, ditadura militar) was established on 1 April 1964, after a coup d'état by the Brazilian Armed Forces, with support from the United States government, against President João Goulart. The Brazilian dict ...

between 1964 and 1985 - to

Herbert de Souza Herbert Jose "Betinho" de Souza (November 13, 1935 – August 9, 1997) was a sociologist and activist against economic injustice and government corruption in Brazil and founder of the Brazilian Institute of Social Analysis and Economics (IB ...

Bridge, which has annoyed the Brazilian military.

Controversy

Officially, 33 people died during the construction of the bridge. Unofficial estimates put the death toll in excess of 400. Some people suggested that workers were buried within the concrete, but engineer Bruno Contarini contested that by saying, "There wasn’t even concrete when one of the foundations toppled over during the load test and eight people died. If any bodies were not rescued, it’s because they disappeared in the bay, not because they were buried in concrete ."

Pop Culture

In 1977, the famous Brazilian singer

Maysa Maysa Figueira Monjardim (June 6, 1936 – January 22, 1977), better known as Maysa Matarazzo, was a Brazilian singer-songwriter, performer and actress. She is also associated with Bossa nova music but is widely known as a torch song (''fossa' ...

died in a car crash on the bridge.

All Music AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

/ref> In 2011, the bridge was featured in the film ''

Fast Five ''Fast Five'' (also known as ''Fast & Furious 5'' or ''Fast & Furious 5: Rio Heist'') is a 2011 American action film directed by Justin Lin and written by Chris Morgan. It is the sequel to ''Fast & Furious'' (2009) and the fifth i ...

''. The Puerto Rican bridge

Teodoro Moscoso José Teodoro Moscoso Mora
Rico Puerto Rico. Noticel. June 15, 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2012. ...

doubled for the bridge during the last moments of the film.

Gallery

File:Ponte Rio Niterói by Diego Baravelli.jpg File:SantaRosa OLD SKOOL.jpg File:Ponte rio niteroi.JPG File:Ponte Rio-Niterói 01.jpg File:Ponte Rio Niterói 1 by Diego Baravelli.jpg File:US Navy 040611-N-8148A-069 A bird's eye view from the top of Sugar Loaf mountain in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, shows USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) near the Rio-Niteroi bridge during the ship's first foreign port visit.jpg File:Rio de Janeiro Ponte Niteroi 38.JPG File:Rio de Janeiro Ponte Niteroi Aerea 102 Feb 2006.jpg File:Rio de Janeiro Ponte Niteroi Aerea 105 Feb 2006.JPG File:Selo da Ponte Rio-Niterói 040.jpg

References

External links

* Official website with live feed from the bridge's surveillance cameras
Ponte S.A. homepage

Satellite picture by Google Maps

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rio-Niteroi Bridge Bridges in Rio de Janeiro (city) Guanabara Bay Niterói Box girder bridges Bridges in Brazil Road bridges Toll bridges Bridges completed in 1974 Buildings and structures in Rio de Janeiro (state)