The dream of building bridges over the Tagus River mouth in Lisbon

Abstract

The Tagus is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula (in the southwest corner of Europe, comprising most of the Portuguese and Spanish territories) and it forms a wide estuary at its mouth near Lisbon. The need for a permanent bridge between Lisbon and the south bank of the river had long been felt and several solutions have been proposed since the 19th century. However, the construction of the first bridge crossing the river in that area only occurred in the second half of the 20th century. This work represents an opportunity to pay a tribute to the engineers involved in the design and construction of those bridges and to give a valuable insight into construc-tion and technology history.