Pont Esclangon, Modern bridge in Grenoble, France.

Pont Esclangon is a 138 m prestressed-concrete box-girder bridge over the Drac and the A480, linking Grenoble to Fontaine. Built by cantilever construction, it has three spans of 38, 62 and 38 m on two piers and two abutments, with an 8 m roadway flanked by 1.60 m pavements. Its pale deck carries a white railing with spear-topped ends.

Built in 1986, the bridge takes its name from Félix Esclangon, former director of the Institut polytechnique de Grenoble. Its construction was tied to the opening of Grenoble's tram line A: the new road bridge was built parallel to the older arched pont du Drac so that the tram could run on the latter along a straighter route. It now carries road traffic between Grenoble and Fontaine.

The bridge is named after Félix Esclangon, a former director of the Institut polytechnique de Grenoble. It was built so that line A of the Grenoble tramway could run on the neighbouring Pont du Drac with a straighter route, while road traffic crosses here.

The deck carries an 8 m roadway between two 1.60 m pavements, with service ducts running inside the pavements. The bridge is a straight link between Grenoble and Fontaine, continued on the right bank by the A480 structure and its access ramps. Pedestrians cross on the pavements; the white railing with spear-topped ends runs along the deck edge.

Under each pier sit three driven piles spaced 4 metres apart, sunk through Grenoble's alluvial ground; a cofferdam was then built around their heads and pumped dry so the reinforced-concrete pier could be cast in place. The concrete deck rests on neoprene bearings that can shift about 10 cm and rotate slightly with temperature changes.