Lusitania Bridge, Modern bridge in Mérida, Spain

The Lusitania Bridge is a 480-metre crossing of the Guadiana, designed by Santiago Calatrava and opened in 1991. Its 190-metre steel arch is hung with 23 pairs of cables, and the concrete deck rests on six piles sunk into the riverbed. The total width is 24 metres: two roadways of two 3.5-metre lanes each, with a 5.5-metre pedestrian way raised 1.5 metres between them.

The Lusitania Bridge opened in 1991, built by a Spanish consortium to carry road traffic off the nearly 2,000-year-old Roman bridge of Mérida. Santiago Calatrava designed it, and it was named after Lusitania, the Roman province whose capital was Emerita Augusta, today's Mérida.

The bridge is named after Lusitania, the Roman province whose capital was Emerita Augusta, today's Mérida. The name was chosen when the crossing opened in 1991, and it ties the modern road bridge to the city's Roman past. On the right bank, near the bridge, stands a roundabout with a reproduction of the Augustus of Prima Porta.

The bridge carries three separate ways across: two roadways of two 3.5-metre lanes each, and a 5.5-metre pedestrian walkway running down the middle, raised 1.5 metres above the traffic. On the right bank the walkway meets a roundabout with a reproduction of the Augustus of Prima Porta; on the left bank it ends at a roundabout with a large Extremadura flag.

The bridge's 190-metre steel arch is tied to 23 pairs of cables, each anchored in concrete at both ends. Its name recalls Emerita Augusta's role as capital of the Roman province of Lusitania. The 1991 construction cost 1,200 million pesetas.