Seine River Bridges: Pont des Invalides

We design bridges in the U.S. to last 75 years. Occasionally we will design a unique or special bridge to last 100 years. However, when an old bridge is determined to be of historic importance, we are often asked to keep it in service, usually at more expense than a replacement structure would have cost.

The current Pont des Invalides was built in 1855 using the piers of a demolished suspension bridge that had stood at this site. A new, center pier was constructed and a four span stone masonry deck arch was built on the piers.  The bridge settled about 30 cm (about a foot) in 1878 and two of the arches were destroyed by ice moving downstream and were replaced in 1880. The bridge was widened in 1956 by carefully removing the facing stones and putting them back on the completed structure.

The bridge's name comes from a hospital for injured soldiers (hopital des invalides) that Louis XIV built at this site in 1670. Today it is a complex of monuments and museums related to France's military past. Hence, the bridge is decorated with sculptures of military victories.

Seine River Bridges: Pont des invalides by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Seine River Bridges: Pont Alexander III (2)

The Seine makes a slight bend to the left after the Pont de la Concorde. The next river crossing is the elegant Pont Alexander III that we previously studied on February 15th.

The bridge was named after a Russian tsar and completed in 1900 to commemorate the Franco-Russian Alliance of 1892 that was created to counter the threat from Germany that eventually led to WWI. Another bridge (designed by Gustav Eifel) was built in Saint Petersburg to commemorate the alliance. Russian novels like War and Peace illustrate how the Russian nobility looked to France for fashion and culture, even while they were fighting Napoleon. Thus, Imperial Russia and Republican France were natural allies.

We can also see that bridges in Paris are meant to make important political statements as well as to carry traffic across the Seine. I think that the Waterloo Bridge is the only bridge in London named for anything other than the area where it was built.

The Pont Alexander III is highly decorated and surrounded with golden statues.  The giant pedestals at the ends of the bridge were actually built as counterweights to help balance the arch. It must take a large maintenance staff to keep all of that shiny metal clean and polished.

Seine River Bridges: Pont Alexander III (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Seine River Bridges: Pont de la Concorde

The big events in the life of a river crossing are floods and scour, collisions with river traffic, and fatigue of bridge members. For bridges on the Seine, political events are also important. Wars, battles, revolutions, and less violent changes in governance have had an impact on many of the Seine river crossings. For the Pont de la Concorde, increased traffic demand has also played a big part in it's life.

The Pont de la Concorde was completed in 1791. It was built during the French Revolution with stones taken from the Bastille. Napoleon decorated the bridge with statues of his fallen generals. They were replaced with other statues when the Bourbons returned to power but those statues were eventually moved to Versailles.

Increased traffic demand resulted in the bridge being widened in 1932 with an attempt to preserve its original appearance.

This bridge is located next to the Place de la Concorde, a large square decorated with a fountain, an obelisk, and statues.  It was originally the Place Louis XV where prisoners were executed and then during the revolution a guillotine was erected there. It was renamed the Place de la Concorde as a gesture of reconciliation.

The Pont de la Concorde was originally a five span, stone masonry, closed spandrel deck arch. In 1932 both sides were widened with reinforced concrete to match the original arches.  It is 153 m (502 ft) long with 25 m (83 ft), 28 m (92 ft), 31 m (102 ft), 28 m (92 ft), and 25 m (83 ft) spans.  It was originally 18 m (59 ft) wide but almost doubled in width to 34 m (112 ft) in 1932. Among its features are column-shaped cutwaters outside the piers with elaborate capitals supporting pedestals where the statues had once been placed.   

Seine River Bridges: Pont de la Concorde by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.