SACEM Bridge

After nearly eighty years of service, where road and pedestrian traffic shared a 5.5 meter wide deck without any safety barriers separating them, it was decided to widen this bridge to make it safer for cyclists and pedestrians to use.

The original bridge consists of a triple T-section haunched continuous reinforced concrete girder bridge. Despite its age, the superstructure was not deteriorating and the concrete quality remained good. The widening project proposed by Mario Guisasola of anta ingeniería civil consisted of adding 80 cm of width to either side of the bridge to be able to create a walkway separate from the roadway. To do so, weathering steel girders were added along both sides of the bridge supported by inclined V-shaped corbels sitting on the existing concrete piers with neoprene bearings. The pier edges are covered with a weathering steel cap but the piers remain unmodified in appearance otherwise.

The added structure remains within the outline created by the concrete surface of the existing girders with the V-shaped supports running in parallel but slightly inset from the concrete girder's haunches at the pier supports. The added structure therefore serves as a slim and elegant addition to an otherwise rather bland and standard bridge of its time, without eclipsing the existing structure.

The widening structure received a high commendation from the jury for the 2022 Footbridge Awards in the category "New Life".