Bridge Over the River Tua

The bridge crosses over the Tua railway line and, with the construction of the future Foz do Tua dam, will pass over the dam.

The closure of the central span of the bridge took place in December 2011, 19 months after the issue of the certification authorising work on the bridge to begin, one of the most significant moments in the progress of the project.

The solution adopted for construction of the bridge recognised the great height of the central area of the bridge which led to recourse to very long spans that required the employment of box girders with variable heights for the platform with corbel cantilevers.

The central span of 220 m is the second largest in Portugal using cantilevers without the employment of cable stays and the 12th in the world.

The two end spans of 140 m make up a total length of 500 m between the support axes.

The two columns where the tallest has a height of the order of 85 m are identical to each other, the dimensions increasing only where this was necessary to ensure stability.

The deck is comprised of a single cell box in pre-stressed reinforced concrete that was cast from the section of the pilar heads (aduelas de encabeçamento) with sections between 4.5 and 5 m, concreted on symmetric corbels. The bridge is slung between support axes between km 15+640 and 16+140 on the stretch between Carlão and Nó de Pombal from the alternative north solution.