Pont du Waterhoek, bridge over the Schelde in Avelgem, Belgium

Pont du Waterhoek is a Vierendeel truss bridge over the Schelde at Avelgem, linking Rugge in West Flanders with Ruien in East Flanders. Its deck carries a row of tall rectangular openings framed by slender vertical supports under a flat top rail, with a solid abutment at the left end. The steelwork was machined by La Brugeoise, Nicaise et Delcuve in Bruges.

A ferry crossed the Schelde here before the first bridge, a Vierendeel design by engineer Arthur Vierendeel, opened on 9 September 1906; its steel elements were made by La Brugeoise, Nicaise et Delcuve in Bruges. German troops blew it up in World War I and it was rebuilt in 1921. Destroyed again on 19 May 1940, it was replaced by an arch bridge built from 1950 to 1952.

The current bridge, a steel arch structure completed in 1952, carries the road between Rugge and Ruien across the Schelde. It replaced the Vierendeel bridge destroyed on 19 May 1940. Visitors should note that the bridge featured in the 1971 film Mira was not this one but the Mirabrug over the Durme at Hamme.

The 1971 film Mira, adapted from Streuvels's novel by Fons Rademakers on a script by Hugo Claus, was not shot at this bridge: its bridge scenes were filmed on the old bridge over the Durme at Hamme, which has been called the Mirabrug ever since. That bridge is a truss bridge, not a Vierendeel bridge.