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All French heritage classified by regions, departments and cities

  2. Patrimoine
  3. Nouvelle-Aquitaine
  4. Gironde
  5. 33000 Bordeaux

  6. Saint John Railway Bridge, usually referred to as the Eiffel Bridge

 Saint John Railway Bridge, usually referred to as the Eiffel Bridge à Bordeaux en Gironde

Patrimoine classé
Patrimoine urbain
Pont
Passerelle
Gironde

Saint John Railway Bridge, usually referred to as the Eiffel Bridge

    Passerelle Eiffel
    33000 Bordeaux
Photo de Saint John Railway Bridge, usually referred to as the Eiffel Bridge
Crédit photo : Langladure - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1900
2000
1858-1860
Construction of bridge
25 août 1860
Official Inauguration
1er septembre 1860
Railway entry into service
1862
Addition of a pedestrian bridge
8 mai 2008
Last rail traffic
22 février 2010
Historical Monument
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

The bridge located on the Garonne between the Quai de Paludate and the Quai Deschamps (non-cadastre, public domain): classification by decree of 22 February 2010

Key figures

Gustave Eiffel - Engineer and construction manager Directed the work, innovative with compressed air.
Stanislas de Laroche-Tolay - Bridge and Chaussées Engineer Chief builder of the bridge.
Paul Régnauld - Chief Engineer (Compagnie du Midi) Collaborated in technical design.
Charles Nepveu - Director in France (Cie général) Supervised the building company.
Francesco Bandarin - Director of the World Heritage Centre (UNESCO) Call to save the bridge.

Origin and history

The Eiffel Bridge, or Saint-Jean Bridge, is a metal railway bridge built between 1858 and 1860 on the Garonne in Bordeaux. Designed by engineers Stanislas de Laroche-Tolay and Paul Régnauld, it was created by Gustave Eiffel Establishments, then 26 years old. This project marked a major technical innovation with the use of compressed air foundations, a method reused later for the Eiffel Tower. The bridge, 509.69 metres long, connected the networks of the Midi and Paris-Orléans railway companies, avoiding travellers a detour by the stone bridge or a boat trip.

Inaugurated on August 25, 1860 and opened for operation on September 1, the bridge became a symbol of modernity. In 1862, a footbridge was added downstream, disassembled in 1981 due to corrosion. The bridge, limited to 30 km/h at the end of service, was replaced in 2008 by a new four-lane viaduct. Threatened by destruction, it was saved thanks to UNESCO intervention and listed as a historic monument on 22 February 2010.

Today, the Eiffel Bridge is preserved for pedestrian and cycling use as part of the Euratlantic project. Restoration work, including an anthracite grey painting, was undertaken by SNCF Réseau prior to its transfer to a local community. Its lighting, designed by architect Jean de Giacinto and plasticist David Durand, highlights its industrial heritage.

A major incident took place during its construction: Gustave Eiffel saved a worker who had fallen into the Garonne by diving to rescue him. This heroic gesture illustrates his commitment to this site, which earned him a first recognition in the metal construction industry.

The bridge, originally referred to as a "light" structure due to its metal structure, embodies the bold engineering of the 19th century. Its apron, composed of lattice beams with crosses of Saint-André, rests on six masonry piles and two abutments. The archives reveal a rigorous organization of the site, with precise roles for each actor, from engineers to workers.

External links

Page Wikipedia
Page Monumentum