The Pont de Bornègre (or Pont de Bordnègre) is an ancient bridge of the

Roman aqueduct The Romans constructed aqueducts throughout their Republic and later Empire, to bring water from outside sources into cities and towns. Aqueduct water supplied public baths, latrines, fountains, and private households; it also supported min ...

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of ...

, which also includes the famous

Pont du Gard The Pont du Gard is an ancient Roman aqueduct bridge built in the first century AD to carry water over to the Roman colony of ''Nemausus'' ( Nîmes). It crosses the river Gardon near the town of Vers-Pont-du-Gard in southern France. The Po ...

, between the communes of Saint-Maximin, and Argilliers. It is located at the upper reaches of the approximately 50 km long aqueduct, 6,745 m downstream of the Eure source and 9,061 m upstream of the Pont du Gard. The structure bridges an intermittent torrent, the Bordnègre, with a

catchment area In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...

of 0.6–0.8 km² and, according to modern estimates, a maximum flood flow of 5 m³/s water. Its three segmental arches, with a total span of 17 m, are built of

voussoir A voussoir () is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault. Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. T ...

s covering the whole breadth of the bridge.Hubert Chanson (2002), p. 329 Today, two of them are buried by sediments up to the springing line of the vaults. After the aqueduct fell into disrepair during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, the Bornègre Bridge, like its big sister across the

Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;List of Roman bridges

References

Sources

* Hubert Chanson:
Hydraulics of Large Culvert beneath Roman Aqueduct of Nîmes
, ''Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering'', Vol. 128, No. 5 (Sept./Oct. 2002), pp. 326–330 (329) Roman bridges in France Roman segmental arch bridges Deck arch bridges Stone bridges in France Pont de Bornegre {{France-bridge-struct-stub