| Puente de España | |
|---|---|
The Puente de España during the American Colonial Period |
|
| Other name(s) | Puente Grande or Puente de piedra(1630-1863) |
| Carries | Vehicular and pedestrian traffic (1630-1914) Streetcar (1905-1914) |
| Crosses | Pasig River |
| Locale | Manila, Philippines |
| Architect | Lucas de Jesus Maria (1630) |
| Engineering design | Antonio Herrera (1630) |
| Material | Volcanic tuff |
| Total length | 414.25 ft (126.26 m) |
| Width | 22.25 ft (6.78 m) (1814-1901) widened in 1901 |
| Number of spans | Puente Grande, 10 Puente de España, 8 |
| Constructed by | Spanish colonial government in the Philippines |
| Construction begin | 1626 |
| Construction end | 1629 |
| Opened | 1630 |
| Preceded by | Puente Colgante (1852), now Quezon Bridge Santa Cruz Bridge (1900s) |
| Followed by | None |
| Closed | 1916 |
Puente de España or the Bridge of Spain was a bridge that spanned the Pasig River in the Philippines connecting the districts of Binondo and Sta. Cruz on Calle Nueva (now E.T. Yuchengco St) with the center of downtown Manila. The span was the oldest established in the country before it was damaged by flood in 1914. The bridge was replaced by Jones Bridge in 1916 located one block downriver from Puente de España on Calle Rosario (now Quintin Paredes St).
Contents |
The first bridge to ever cross the Pasig River was the Puente Grande, a ten-span bridge opened in 1630 by the Spanish colonial government. Work on the bridge started in 1626 under the rule of Spanish Governor Fernando de Silva who reported that the city had decided to build a stone bridge over the river. The beam bridge connected Intramuros and with the business district of Binondo, making the travel across easier and faster than the ferry service that existed before. The bridge was completed in 1630, under the rule of Juan Niño de Tabora. The bridge was built without cost to the treasury, as the Sangleys (Chinese) had paid for it as it relieved them of ferryboat charges.[1]
The work of construction was directed by the Recollect priest Lucas de Jesus Maria, and that the bridge as built consisted of stone piers and a wooden superstructure. At the south end of the bridge is a structure called Fortin y Mira (small fort and lookout). Its use was to guard this approach to the city as part of the defense of Manila. The wooden superstructure, besides being more easily and cheaply built, had a military value in that communications between the two parts of the city, as divided by the river, could be easily and quickly destroyed by destroying the woodwork. This was done during an insurrection of the Chinese in 1638.[1]
The engineering work was credited to an Augustinian friar Antonio Herrera. In order to expose the river bed, he diverted half of the water of the river into the moats and esteros (canals) which existed along the east and south fronts of the walled city and then cut a channel from the west end of the moat, on the south (near Paseo de Luneta) to the sea. By building heavy dikes he unwatered a part of the river bed, which permitted the construction of the piers for half of the bridge. The same plan was followed for the piers of the other half. The piers were built of a local stone, known locally as Guadalupe adobe stone named from where the stones were quarried (now Brgy. Guadalupe Viejo in Makati City); its formation being a volcanic tuff.[1]
In 1814, the wooden superstructures were replaced with stone arches and the stone piers were strengthened. The bridge was also called Puente de Piedra (Stone Bridge), with the old name remaining popular. The earthquake of 1863, one of the strongest to hit the Philippines leveled most of Manila. On the bridge, some of the center piers of the bridge sank, damaging the bridge.[1]
While the bridge was being assessed and repaired, a temporary pontoon bridge known as Puente de Barcas (Bridge of Boats) was constructed one block below on Calle Rosario.[2] In the middle of the bridge, the spans were supported by cascos, or large flat-bottomed boats common in the area.[1]
On the old bridge, the two piers near the center were removed lessening the number of spans to eight. The two steel ribbed central spans were used to span the space left by the removed piers. The bridge was opened on January 1, 1875 and was renamed as Puente de España. It remained unchanged till 1901 during the American Colonial Era when the bridge was widened to accommodate more pedestrians and vehicles. As a result, the street lamps on the bridge were removed. Tracks were laid on the bridge in 1905 to accommodate the "tranvia", a streetcar system that run throughout Manila.
In September, 1914 nonstop rains flooded the streets of Manila swelling the Pasig River. The floods damaged the center pier of the bridge, and it was removed. A temporary truss bridge was installed after a few months over the remaining spans.
In 1916, a replacement Neoclassical reinforced concrete arch bridge was constructed by the American Colonial government one block downriver from the original location, on the site of the old temporary Puente de Barcas. The span was renamed as Jones Bridge after former Virginia Rep. William Atkinson Jones, who was the principal author of the Philippine Autonomy Act of 1916,[3] a bill assuring the future independence of the Philippines. The bridge was destroyed by the bombs of World War II and replaced by the present bridge (Jones Bridge II).[4][5]