Seine River Bridges: Passerelle Debilly (2)

Things often look better from a distance. In this photo one begins to understand why several attempts were made to remove this bridge. It looks a little flimsy and it's not very clean. Also, It doesn't make a particularly graceful transition from the river to the bank. The concrete pier and ramp leading to the Left Bank look like an afterthought, and despite some lovely art nouveau details, it appears to have seen better days.

I've noticed that pedestrian bridges across the Seine are provided with a wooden deck.  They don't seem to age very well and this one seems to have become waterlogged and it's growing grasses along its edges.  I wonder why a rubber or asphalt surface isn't used for the deck?

This bridge has none of the elegance of the nearby Pont Alexander III even though it was designed by the same engineer. Perhaps it suffered from its move upstream after the World's Fair. Still it appears to be a very popular bridge with attractive views for pedestrians crossing the Seine.

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

Seine River Bridges: Passerelle Debilly

This pedestrian bridge was built to carry visitors across the Seine and to the 1900 World's Fair. It was moved slightly upstream, had its name changed, and it was threatened with removal several times before finally obtaining historical status in 1966. The engineer, Jean Resal became an expert in metal arch bridges, having designed the nearby Pont Alexander III and the Viaduc d'Austerlitz.

The main span of the Passerelle Debilly (named after a fallen general) is a 75 m (246 ft) long through arch with 22.5 m (74 ft) long half deck arches for the approach spans. Stairways carry pedestrians on and off the bridge.  The deck is only 8 m (26 ft) wide and it's supported by floor beams held up by metal plates attached to the arch ribs.

This photo was taken from the second level of the nearby Eiffel Tower. Note how beige the City of Paris is in this photo and how close the hilly countryside appears.

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

Seine River Bridges: Pont de l'Alma

The Pont de l'Alma is a continuous, two span box girder bridge with the girders haunched at the pier to resist the large moment. It is actually two parallel bridges that are connected by a walkway on the deck. Most of the other Seine River crossings are arch bridges, but the Pont d'Alma is a similarly unobtrusive structure that was built to enhance rather than obscure views of the surrounding city.

The current Pont d'Alma was completed in 1974 to replace a narrow bridge of the same name that was slowly settling due to scouring of the foundations.  The replacement structure was built with a 40 meter deep foundation at the central pier and with piles supporting the abutments.

The previous bridge was commissioned by Napoleon to commemorate a victory over Russia in the Crimea.  It was a three span stone masonry deck arch bridge with statues of soldiers from different regiments at each pier. The statue of a Zoave (North African) soldier, was taken from the original bridge and placed upstream at the central pier of the new bridge.

The Pont d'Alma has a long (110 m) span that crosses most of the river and a short (31.5 m) span near the Right Bank.  It is 42 meters wide, carrying four lanes of traffic in each direction along with walkways on the two sides and at the center.

Considerable effort was made to preserve the Pont des Invalides (just upstream) while the Pont d'Alma (similar in structure, ornamentation, age, historical significance, etc.) was quickly replaced when it was found to be deficient. Perhaps this was because the Pont des Invalides was repaired in the 19th century and widened in the 20th century.  The Pont d'Alma required both at the same time.

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