Pont de Recouvrance

Coordinates: 48°23′04″N 4°29′48″W / 48.384381°N 4.496541°W

Pont de Recouvrance

The Pont de Recouvrance and the Penfeld
Coordinates 48°23′03.7″N 04°29′47.3″W / 48.384361°N 4.496472°W
Carries Rue de Siam
Crosses Penfeld River
Locale Brest, Brittany, France
Characteristics
Design Vertical-lift bridge
Material Reinforced concrete, steel
Height 70m
Longest span 88 metres (289 ft)
History
Construction begin 1950
Construction end 1954
Opened 1954

The Pont de Recouvrance is a vertical-lift bridge in Brest, France, across the river Penfeld. Opened on 17 July 1954, it was the largest vertical-lift bridge in Europe until the opening of the Pont Gustave-Flaubert in 2008. It links the bottom of the rue de Siam to the quartier de Recouvrance, replacing a swing bridge (the pont National) destroyed by Allied bombardment in 1944.

Each pylon is 70m high, and the 525-tonne lift span is 88m long.

Trolley bus

The bridge was crossed by trolleybuses from its opening in 1954 until the closure of the Brest trolleybus system, in 1970.[1]

Trams

The lift span was renewed in 2011 in order to allow the future tram line to cross the bridge. Tram opened by July 2012.[2]

References

  1. Haseldine, Peter (July–August 2010). "Two French closures" (40th anniversaries of). Trolleybus Magazine issue 292, pp. 74–75. National Trolleybus Association (UK). ISSN 0266-7452.
  2. Today's Railway Europe No. 214, p15

External links

Media related to Pont de Recouvrance at Wikimedia Commons