Pont du Général-Audibert, Tram bridge in Nantes, France
The Pont du Général-Audibert is a pair of parallel bridges over the Madeleine arm of the Loire, linking the cours des 50-Otages to the Île de Nantes. One is an arch bridge built in 1923 and rebuilt in 1945; the other is a beam bridge carrying two tram tracks of lines 2 and 3. Both carry road traffic, and the pale grey concrete arches sit on thick rectangular piers rising from the water.
The original structure from 1923 was destroyed in 1944 during World War II and rebuilt the following year. This reconstruction was crucial for restoring transportation links after the city's liberation.
The bridge honours General Louis-Alexandre Audibert (1874–1955), who led the Ouest region of the Armée secrète during the Occupation and later became député of Loire-Inférieure. The municipal council gave the bridge his name on 15 December 1958 at the request of Resistance movements and FFI battalions; before that it was the pont de la Madeleine, after the nearby priory.
The bridge carries the road between the place Aimé-Delrue on the north bank and the boulevard des Martyrs-Nantais-de-la-Résistance on the île de Nantes, via the boulevard Jean-Monnet and the chaussée de la Madeleine. Only the downstream span carries the two tram tracks of lines 2 and 3; the upstream span is for road traffic. Pedestrians and cyclists cross alongside the traffic.
The two sides of the bridge use different construction methods: one employs an arch design while the other features a beam structure. This double construction resulted from engineering decisions made during post-war reconstruction.
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