Ponte Costa e Silva, Road bridge in Lago Sul, Brazil.
Ponte Costa e Silva is a 452-metre road bridge over Lake Paranoá in Brasília, designed by Oscar Niemeyer in 1967 and opened on 6 February 1976. Its central span of 220 metres is flanked by two 110-metre side spans, and the central section is a steel Gerber beam made in Volta Redonda. Niemeyer wanted the foundation blocks hidden, with only two points touching the water, so the arch seems to rest on the surface like a swallow skimming the lake.
Oscar Niemeyer drew the bridge in 1967, but the original contractor Sobrenco hit soil problems and lost prestressing cables in the lake, halting work in 1971. ECEL took over in 1974, replacing part of the prestressed concrete with a steel Gerber beam made in Volta Redonda. President Ernesto Geisel inaugurated it on 6 February 1976.
Niemeyer called it Ponte Monumental and described the arch as resting on the water "like a swallow touching the water". In 2012 the urban art collective Trans-verso altered the road signs to rename it after samba composer Bezerra da Silva, a protest that drew public attention.
The bridge links the Setor de Clubes Sul to the Lago Sul pontoon, giving access to the Península dos Ministros and Quadra 11 of Lago Sul. Before it opened, drivers reached the Plano Piloto by way of the DF-025 and DF-047 parkways, circling Lake Paranoá. It is one of four crossings over the lake.
In 2012 the urban art collective Trans-verso altered the bridge's signposts to read "Bezerra da Silva", honouring the Pernambuco samba composer, and the intervention drew public reaction. The bridge's official name has changed repeatedly: Honestino Guimarães in 2015, reversed by a court in 2017, vetoed by governor Ibaneis Rocha in 2021 and restored in 2022.
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