Pont de pierre, Stone bridge in Bordeaux, France
The Pont de pierre spans the Garonne on 17 shallow arches carried by 16 piers, 487 m long and 19 m wide. Its side walls alternate pale stone with reddish brick panels, and white medallions sit above each pier. A stone balustrade with a dark metal railing and tall multi-lantern lamp posts runs along the deck, which bends gently toward the La Bastide bank.
A stone bridge over the Garonne was proposed as early as 1771, but engineer Jean-Rodolphe Perronet judged it impossible given the river's tides and floods. Napoleon I ordered construction in 1810; work began that year and was completed in 1822 under Louis XVIII, designed by engineers Claude Deschamps and Jean-Baptiste Basilide Billaudel with 4,000 workers. The 17 arches replaced an original plan of 19, two being dropped in 1819 for budget and design reasons.
The 17 arches are often said to match the letters of "Napoléon Bonaparte", but the sources state this is a popular belief: the bridge was planned with 19 arches and two were dropped in 1819 for budget and design reasons. The white medallions capping the brick piers were meant to carry the double L cipher of Louis XVIII.
Pedestrians, cyclists, and trams cross this bridge daily, linking both riverbanks for different types of traffic. Watch for trams and vehicles while walking to stay safe in the shared crossing space.
Engineers employed an innovative British diving bell technique to anchor the foundations against powerful river currents. This advanced method for the time allowed workers to build safely beneath the water's surface.
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