Suspended sun - a photo on Flickriver

Suspended sun

While enjoying an after dinner bica on the quay terrace of the fine Ponto Final restaurant in Cacilhas (Almada) we saw the sky turn red and the sun approaching the April 25 bridge. I envisaged the 'ultimate' graphic sweet spot for it and waited for it to happen after ordering another round of bicas. This is the result . Behind the bridge is Lisbon - Belém and the harbour.

The next day we would be aboard the high speed ‘Alfa Pendular’ train, taking us over the bridge and on to Faro and the Sotavento.

The April 25 bridge is the last bridge before the Tejo reaches the Atlantic ocean.
It took the New Yorker Steel International Inc and its co-contractors 4 years to build this suspension bridge at a cost of 32 million US dollars. It shares quit a lot of design characteristics with the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. It was inaugurated in 1966 as the 'Salazar Bridge', named after the dictator who had it built. It was later renamed to commemorate the bloodless 'Carnation Revolution' that happened on the 25th of April 1974.

It has two decks. On the top 5 lane deck the car, busses and lorries pass and on the lower deck the trains do. From the outset the bridge was designed to carry a railway on the lower deck. In summer 1999 the lower railway deck was ready for use after major preparatory works which included the fitting of additional cables and the widening of the roadway to six lanes, as well as re-painting of the bridge. Due to the xtra weight the bridge sank some centimetres. The "retro-fit" of the railway track was the largest such project undertaken on a bridge in the world. By the way: the initial Golden Gate plans were for a two deck bridge too, but the due to cost and engineering considerations it was changed to single deck design.

The reason there are so much years before the work on the railway retrofitting started:
-Traffic congestion getting worse – it took commuters sometimes 1,5 h to cross the Tejo. By 1996 the bridge was absorbing, with increasing difficulty, 137,000 vehicles a day, carrying 50,134,000 passengers per annum
-Government funding and public choice – priority was given to other projects
-Discussion about a separate railway bridge - time was spend discussing the alternative – a high capacity dedicated railway bridge with a better integration in the regional railway and subway network. The Seixal and Amada municipalities opted for this. Still, in 2005, it is common to see queues on either side and across the bridge, despite the relief afforded by the construction of the Vasco da Gama road bridge further upstream. The building of a new railway bridge is again contemplated.

Best viewed: LARGE

Taken in: Portugal / Lisboa / Lisboa / Alcântara (show map)

Taken on: June 10, 2005

Tags:

Portugal

Lisboa

Ponte 25 Abril

bridges

architecture

Cacilhas

Setubal

Ponto Final restaurant

Almada

Tejo

Tagus

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Sets appears in: • 100+ views • 15 minutes of fame more » • Lisboa & Outra banda • low light city • Setúbal 2005, 2010, 2015 & 2019 • Olympus C8080 WZ « less

Groups appears in: • Lisboa • Portugal more » • Bridges • Olympus Camedia C - 8080 Owners • Setúbal • Portugalia • Pritzker Architecture Prize on Flickr (Post 1 - Award 2) • Margem Sul do Tejo (de Almada a Alcochete) • Postais Ilustrados de Portugal (por convite/3 comentários) • Rio Tejo • Sky Poetry • SILUETAS-SILHOUETTES • Postais Ilustrados de Portugal: THE BEST (give 3 awards) • Maravilhas Portuguesas • Available Light / Existing Light • De Doka « less

Camera: Olympus C8080WZ, f/4.5, 1/320 sec, 35.6mm, ISO 50 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Olympus C8080WZ
Aperture:	f/4.5
Exposure Time:	0.003 sec (1/320)
Focal Length:	35.6mm
ISO:	50
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Scene Capture Type:	Landscape
Saturation:	High
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	Unknown (-1)
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows
Show full info

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