Pont de l'Abîme, Suspension bridge in Haute-Savoie, France
The Pont de l'Abîme is a single-lane road suspension bridge carrying the D31 over the Chéran between Cusy and Gruffy, with a span of 74.80 m and a deck 96 m above the river. Its deck is a steel truss with vertical and diagonal members; the outer quarters are held by inclined stay cables from the pylon tops, the middle quarters by vertical hangers from the main cables. On the Gruffy side the cables wrap around a pillar cut directly into the hard urgonian rock.
The engineer Dutrait proposed a bridge between Gruffy and Cusy in 1855, but the project stalled for decades. The contract went to Ferdinand Arnodin of Châteauneuf-sur-Loire, whose submission is dated 9 August 1884 and was approved on 29 April 1887. Work began in summer 1887; the bridge opened provisionally on 11 February 1888 and was finally accepted on 25 March 1891.
The bridge's name comes from the gorge it crosses, the ravin de l'Abîme. In the night of 15 to 16 August 1944, local inhabitants removed all the oak planks of the deck and hid them in barns and mazots so German soldiers could not destroy the bridge; they were put back after the liberation of Haute-Savoie. The centenary was celebrated on 23 August 1987.
Cars do cross the Pont de l'Abîme, but the deck is single-lane, so traffic alternates and vehicles over 19 tonnes are barred. The D31 links Cusy and Gruffy directly, saving the roughly 8 km detour to the next bridge upstream. Walkers and cyclists share the narrow carriageway, so keep to the side.
The deck's first and last quarters are carried by straight stay cables running from the pylon tops, while only the two middle quarters hang from vertical suspenders attached to the main cables between the pylons — Ferdinand Arnodin's own hybrid system, built in 1887.
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