Pont de Prunier, Steel bridge in Bouchemaine, France

Pont de Pruniers is a 150-metre steel truss bridge over the Maine, with three 50-metre spans and a height of 7 metres, carried on two light-grey stone piers. Its pale green lattice of criss-crossing diagonal beams forms repeated triangles along the span, and the deck, topped by a railing with vertical bars and diagonal cross-bracing, was resurfaced in wood between 2023 and 2024. It links the village of Pruniers in Bouchemaine, on the right bank, to Sainte-Gemmes-sur-Loire on the left bank.

Built in 1908 as part of the Petit Anjou railway line connecting Angers to Candé, it enabled train traffic across the Maine. Rail service ended in 1947, after which the structure found new use.

A stele at the left-bank end of the bridge was inaugurated on 8 August 1992 before about twenty American veterans, including Herb Williams, who commanded Company L, and William Birdsong, then a major. It honours the American officers, NCOs and soldiers who liberated Angers in August 1944; Guy Stéfanini initiated it and Yves J. wrote the inscription.

The bridge carries a wooden deck laid between 2023 and 2024, open only to walkers and cyclists. It links the Pruniers hamlet on the right bank in Bouchemaine with Sainte-Gemmes-sur-Loire on the left bank. It stands 4.5 km from Angers-Saint-Laud station, so it can be reached on foot or by bike from the station.

On 8 August 1944, Company L of the US 11th Infantry found the bridge intact, cleared mines and a wagon from it, and crossed at about 22:30 to establish a bridgehead. German counter-attacks all night failed to retake it. A 1992 stele on the left bank honours the liberators.