Pont Lorois, Suspension bridge in Belz, France

Pont Lorois is a concrete bridge spanning 237 meters across the Ria d'Etel, connecting the Pays d'Auray to the Pays de Lorient. The structure uses steel cables and metal decking to link the two banks.

Ferries once crossed the Étel at the Vieux Passage until Prefect Édouard Lorois had a toll bridge built; designed by engineer Laurent, it opened in 1844 with a 113.20 m span. Storm-damaged in 1866 and 1894, rebuilt in 1895, it was dynamited by the FFI and bombed by Allied aircraft on 4 November 1944 to cut the Lorient pocket. The present bridge, inaugurated on 13 September 1956, keeps the 19th-century masonry arches on both banks.

Locals renamed the 1895 bridge "Le Pont du Bon Dieu" (the Bridge of the Good God) to ward off the misfortunes that had struck its predecessors. The name Lorois honours Édouard Lorois, prefect of Morbihan from 1838 to 1848, who launched the first toll bridge project. Before any bridge, ferrymen rowed travellers across at the Vieux Passage, the narrowest point of the river.

The bridge is the only crossing of the Rivière d'Étel between the Pays de Lorient and the Pays d'Auray, linking Belz and Plouhinec. Traffic runs on two lanes, and the deck is a straight band with a slight arch between the two concrete pylons. The masonry arches of the 19th-century bridge remain on the Belz and Plouhinec shores.

The structure blends nineteenth-century stone arches on both banks with modern concrete portal frames anchored deep into the ground. This mix of old and new engineering shows how the bridge was intentionally rebuilt after its destruction.