Rio Lima Bridge, Viana do Castelo, Portugal

Opened in 1878, this landmark in the northern Portuguese costal town of Viana do Castelo was designed and built by A.G. Eiffel. Strengthening of this ten-span, 562 m long steel bridge with two main truss beams of 7,5 m depth became necessary to adapt the load-bearing capacity to modern road and railroad traffic.

However, the characteristic architecture should not be impaired through the construction measures. The consultant decided to install tension ties in every span. These run parallel to the bottom chords and are lifted up diagonally to the top chords above the piers. The forces are introduced into the structure with Ø 32 mm DYWIDAG smooth bars. Deflection points and coupling splices of the bars were installed very simply and economically.