The Portuguese River Douro Bridges - the Designer and the Aesthetics

Prof. Edgar Cardoso (1913-2000) was a skilled structural engineer with a special aptitude on the design of bridges and the aesthetics. He considered that every site had an adequate bridge design solution. He was deeply committed to his concepts and will, and he would carry on with his ideas until the bridge was constructed. A native of Oporto where he graduated, he did some of his best original designs over the River Douro. The purpose of this study is to present several different designs, from this unique Portuguese bridge designer, spanning over this stormy river. The early 1955 Barca d’Alva multi-span arch, the 1957 Foz-do-Sousa arch, the 1963 Arrábida arch, the 1973 Mosteirô continuous truss girder, and the 1991 São João portal frame bridges, are few unique structural concrete examples of a prodigious creative mind, with more than 500 bridge studies.