Pont de l'A71 sur la Loire, Highway bridge in La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin, France.
The Pont de l'A71 sur la Loire is a pre-stressed concrete motorway bridge about 400 metres long, opened in 1980 and doubled by a second, 15.4-metre-wide structure immediately downstream in 2011. Each deck carries three lanes and a hard shoulder; the low concrete parapet hides the shallow arch and two tapered piers from drivers.
The original bridge opened in 1980 as part of the A71 motorway extension toward Orléans, improving regional transportation connections. A second parallel roadway was added in 2011 to handle increasing traffic demands.
The bridge crosses the Loire between La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin and Saint-Pryvé-Saint-Mesmin, inside the Val de Loire UNESCO World Heritage perimeter. Drivers cross the river 1.6 km downstream of the Pont de l'Europe and about 14 km upstream of the Pont de Meung-sur-Loire, on the A71 motorway.
Crossing this bridge is part of the highway route connecting central France and is best experienced while traveling through the region. Visitors can only experience it as a motorway user, so plan journeys during quieter traffic periods if possible.
The south-north carriageway carries a speed camera, and the limit on the crossing is 110 km/h. The second deck, opened on 1 February 2011, is 15.4 m wide and stands downstream of the 1980 structure.
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