Pont National

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Pont National
Crosses	Seine
Locale	Paris, France
Design	arch bridge
Total length	188,5
Width	34
Opening date	1853
Coordinates	48°49′42″N 02°23′16″E / 48.82833, 2.38778

The pont National (named pont Napoléon-III from its construction until 1870) is a road and rail bridge across the Seine in Paris, to the east of the XIIe and XIIIe arrondissements. With a total length of 188.5m, it is made up of 5 masonry arches. Its rail part carries the Petite Ceinture, now disused, and its road part links boulevard Poniatowski to boulevard Masséna. Its nearest Paris Métro stations are Porte de Charenton and Cour Saint-Émilion.

[edit] History

It was built between 1852 and 1853, as a railway bridge (to allow the Petite Ceinture line to cross the river) and to link the "enceintes" on the two sides of the river. Its architects were E. Couche, Petit, Gaspard, and Netter. Its width was doubled with an addition on the upstream side in 1936