Phoenix taking off at Comacchio

The Ferrara waterway, connecting this historic town with Comacchio on the Adriatic Sea is being upgraded: section widening and straightening as well as higher clearance has called for the replacement of most of the existing bridges. When approaching Final di Rero the waterway needs to be bifurcated to straighten a sharp bend leaving a dumpling shaped island between the new navigational channel and the existing one to be used as a mooring stretch. The new bridge fall just on the upstream vertex of this island, calling for two spans of 40 and 80 metres circa. The situation was clearly suited for a bow string solution. The proposed design, by inclining the hangers yields an asymmetric funicular of the two arches that while retaining structural efficiency gift the structure with the distinguished look of a wide winged bird at take off. Since the symbol of the Comacchio’s fauna are the beautiful Cenerino herons stretching their slender wings across the water, the design was awarded and construction soon to take off.