Pont de Vieille-Brioude

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Pont de Vieille-Brioude (Vieille-Brioude Bridge) is located in France, crossing Allier River. It is a masonry arch bridge with a span of 45 metres (148 ft) that was built in 1832[1].

The predecessor[2] of this bridge on the same site was probably built 1479 and had a span of 54 metres (177 ft) making it the longest existing arch span for some three hundred years. The bridge was ordered by local resident Lady de Dombes and built by Grenier and Estone similar to as Pont Grand (Tournon-sur-Rhône) was later built[3]. The completion of the bridge was delayed because of some controversy. The bridge was too narrow[4] and its approaches too steep to be used by carts. It collapsed March 27 1822 at 6 am.

The first bridge was wooden.


  1. ^ Structurae [en]: Vieille-Brioude Bridge (1832)
  2. ^ Structurae [en]: Vieille-Brioude Bridge ( 15th century )
  3. ^ Cresy, Edward (1847). An Encyclopædia of Civil Engineering, Historical, Theoretical and Practical. Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, p253. 
  4. ^ Gostling, Frances Marion. Auvergne and Its People. Elibron Classics, p159. ISBN 1402153155. 
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