Pont de la Rivière Saint-Étienne, Concrete bridge in Saint-Louis, Réunion Island, France.
Pont de la Rivière Saint-Étienne is a double road bridge over the Rivière Saint-Étienne, separating Saint-Louis and Saint-Pierre on Réunion. The downstream bridge, opened in 2013, is a 694.5-metre box-girder structure with four lanes, resting on eight piers and two pillars sunk up to 36 metres. The older upstream bridge, which withstood Cyclone Gamède, is reserved for buses and pedestrians.
The original structure built in 1993 was destroyed by Cyclone Gamede in 2007, prompting the construction of a replacement bridge. The new structure opened to traffic in June 2013.
The bridge serves as a meeting point for residents of Saint-Louis and Saint-Pierre, strengthening connections between the two communities through improved accessibility.
The mountain-side span, which withstood Cyclone Gamède, is being kept for buses and pedestrians, while the new downstream bridge carries four lanes of car traffic. The two spans connect Saint-Louis and Saint-Pierre across the Saint-Étienne River.
During the three years of reconstruction, a temporary submersible slab carried traffic near the site. The provisional road appears for two seconds at the start of the first episode of the tenth season of Grey's Anatomy, standing in for Seattle after a storm.
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