It is located on the estuary of the Tagus River, in the Greater Lisbon area, connecting the municipality of Alcochete to Lisbon and Sacavém, very close to Parque das Nações where Expo 98 took place, Central Portugal
The Bridge is 12.3 km long (which is divided into 0.8 km of main bridge and 11.5 km of viaducts) and is the longest bridge in the European Union, the second longest in Europe after the Crimean Bridge and one of the longest in the world.
The bridge, served by 4.8 km of dedicated access (0.9 km to the north and 3.9 km to the south) was built to create an alternative to the congested Ponte 25 de Abril, and to prevent traffic moving between the north and south of Portugal from crossing the interior of Lisbon.
Construction began in February 1995 and ended in March 1998, and at the time it was necessary to take special care with the environmental impact as the bridge crosses the Tagus Estuary Natural Park, an important European-wide area for feeding and nesting water birds.
The Vasco da Gama Bridge was inaugurated on March 29, 1998, two months before the opening of the World Exhibition, its name commemorates the 500th anniversary of Vasco da Gama's arrival in India in May 1498.
At the inauguration of the bridge, a feijoada was served and was included in the Guinness World Records.
The project involved the preparation of an environmental impact study in the first half of 1994, taking into account that the work began in an area of degraded housing and crossed the river in a location adjacent to protected areas, on the south bank it covered salt marshes and agricultural areas.
The main characteristics of the Bridge are a total crossing length of 17,185 m, total length of bridge structures and viaducts of 12,345 m, length of access to Sacavém 945 m, length of the North Viaduct 488 m (11 spans), length of the Expo Viaduct (Parque das Nações) 672 m (12 spans), length of the Main Bridge 826 m, length of the main span 420 m m, Height of the pillars of the main span 148 m, Clear height for navigation 47 m, Length of the Central Viaduct 6,531 m (80 spans), Length of the South Viaduct 3,825 m (84 spans), length of the access to Montijo 3,895 m, Number of caissons 81, Total volume of concrete 730,000 m3, Weight of steel in reinforcement 100,000 tons, Total prefabricated deck beams 150, Total earthmoving volume 1,400,000 m3, Total area of bituminous mat 400,000 m2, Maximum number of workers 3,300.
The special protection zone on the south bank was expanded to more than 12 thousand hectares, that is, more than 30%.
On the north bank, the chosen route clashed with the existence of run-down neighborhoods and clandestine warehouses.
Lusoponte was the first entity in Portugal to carry out expropriation actions and new accommodation, almost 300 families now have housing in acceptable conditions, Lusoponte also built a new school.
On the north bank it was necessary to build two underground galleries in reinforced concrete: the first 300 m long and 6x4 in section to divert water supply to the Lisbon network and which passed through the century-old Alviela aqueduct,
The other gallery with a square section measuring 3 m on a side and approximately 1,800 m long was intended to replace the high voltage overhead lines, transporting and distributing energy began to be carried out more safely.
The simultaneous work on several fronts of 18 km of the crossing was divided by construction sectors: Sacavém and Portela nodes, North Viaduct, Expo Viaduct, Main Bridge, Central Viaduct, South Viaduct, South Access and South Node.
On the north bank, the Sacavém and Portela junction was handled by Bento Pedroso Construções, H.Hagen and Teixeira Duarte.
In 1995, the works that would transform that area into an important road interface opened the way for 3 underpasses and 3 viaducts to connect to the Northern Motorway, CRIL, Estrada Nacional 10, Segunda Circular and Parque das Nações (EXPO 98).
The north viaduct was under the responsibility of Teixeira Duarte, this viaduct crosses the Northern Railway Line and will connect to the Expo viaduct, in 1995 the pillars began to be erected, in total there are 10 pillars to support a 488 m long deck.
The Expo Viaduct was carried out by Campenon Bernard SGE, with a length of 672 m, this viaduct is supported by 12 pairs of concrete pillars of varying height.
The deck would consist of 462 pre-fabricated segments called staves, the joining of these staves was made through the construction process of successive advances.
The Main Bridge is a spectacular concrete structure, as the deck is suspended by cables from the main towers, its central span is 420 m and the lateral spans are 203 m.
The central towers measure 150 meters high and the deck is 47 meters above the water level in the area of the navigation channel called Cala do Norte.
The deck is a mixed structure made up of concrete slabs resting on steel carlings embedded in two lateral concrete beams from which the tie rods for the towers originate.
The H-shaped North and South towers rest on foundations also designed to withstand the impact of a 30,000-ton ship moving at a speed of 12 knots. Each foundation of these towers rests on 44 molded piles measuring 2.2 m in diameter and reaching depths of more than 65 m.
The construction of the 6,351m Central Viaduct was carried out using prefabricated beams measuring 78m long and weighing 2,200 tonnes on 81 double pillars.
The foundation of each pair of pillars is based on 8 driven piles, 1.7 m in diameter, which in some cases reach 95 m deep into the riverbed.
The deck is approximately 14 meters above the water level for most of the length of this viaduct, but rises up to 30 meters above the two navigable channels, Cala das Barcas and Cala de Samora, whose 130 m spans allow the passage of medium-sized ships.
On this Viaduct there are 5 widenings of the deck to allow vehicles to stop in an emergency. The deck beams were initially subdivided into 8 smaller sections and were interconnected to make up 78 m in length using pre-stress cables.
The deck beams were transported to the final location using the Rambiz, a large-capacity floating crane. The shipyard worked at an intensive pace, producing one of these beams every two days.
The South Viaduct, 3,825 meters long, consists of a double deck with spans of 45 meters, built using two pairs of launching beams.
The 85 groups of 4 pillars of this Viaduct are based on shaped piles located partly in the river and partly on land.
In its terrestrial part, this viaduct passes through the Samouco Salinas, an environmentally sensitive area for birds. The viaduct was built from a temporary embankment, which was removed after the works were completed.
The 3.9 km of the South Access connects the Vasco da Gama Bridge to the South road junction through mostly agricultural land. The closest local connections are with Setúbal (via the A2/A12 junction) and with Alcochete (via IC3), Montijo, Barreiro (via IC21) and Monte da Caparica (via IC20) (via A33) and Pinhal Novo (via Pinhal Novo junction).
The bridge has a life expectancy of 120 years, having been designed to withstand wind speeds of 250 km/h, and resist an earthquake 4.5 times stronger than the historic Lisbon Earthquake in 1755, an earthquake estimated at 8.7 on the Richter scale.
The bridge has a transverse profile of 3+3 lanes, that is, a total of six lanes with a speed limit of 120 km/h. On windy, rainy or cloudy days the speed limit is reduced to 90 km/h.
The number of lanes can be expanded to eight when traffic reaches a daily average of 52,000 vehicles.
The bridge, served by 4.8 km of dedicated access (0.9 km to the north and 3.9 km to the south) was built to create an alternative to the congested Ponte 25 de Abril, and to prevent traffic moving between the north and south of Portugal from crossing the interior of Lisbon.
Construction began in February 1995 and ended in March 1998, and at the time it was necessary to take special care with the environmental impact as the bridge crosses the Tagus Estuary Natural Park, an important European-wide area for feeding and nesting water birds.
The Vasco da Gama Bridge was inaugurated on March 29, 1998, two months before the opening of the World Exhibition, its name commemorates the 500th anniversary of Vasco da Gama's arrival in India in May 1498.
At the inauguration of the bridge, a feijoada was served and was included in the Guinness World Records.
The project involved the preparation of an environmental impact study in the first half of 1994, taking into account that the work began in an area of degraded housing and crossed the river in a location adjacent to protected areas, on the south bank it covered salt marshes and agricultural areas.
The main characteristics of the Bridge are a total crossing length of 17,185 m, total length of bridge structures and viaducts of 12,345 m, length of access to Sacavém 945 m, length of the North Viaduct 488 m (11 spans), length of the Expo Viaduct (Parque das Nações) 672 m (12 spans), length of the Main Bridge 826 m, length of the main span 420 m m, Height of the pillars of the main span 148 m, Clear height for navigation 47 m, Length of the Central Viaduct 6,531 m (80 spans), Length of the South Viaduct 3,825 m (84 spans), length of the access to Montijo 3,895 m, Number of caissons 81, Total volume of concrete 730,000 m3, Weight of steel in reinforcement 100,000 tons, Total prefabricated deck beams 150, Total earthmoving volume 1,400,000 m3, Total area of bituminous mat 400,000 m2, Maximum number of workers 3,300.
The special protection zone on the south bank was expanded to more than 12 thousand hectares, that is, more than 30%.
On the north bank, the chosen route clashed with the existence of run-down neighborhoods and clandestine warehouses.
Lusoponte was the first entity in Portugal to carry out expropriation actions and new accommodation, almost 300 families now have housing in acceptable conditions, Lusoponte also built a new school.
On the north bank it was necessary to build two underground galleries in reinforced concrete: the first 300 m long and 6x4 in section to divert water supply to the Lisbon network and which passed through the century-old Alviela aqueduct,
The other gallery with a square section measuring 3 m on a side and approximately 1,800 m long was intended to replace the high voltage overhead lines, transporting and distributing energy began to be carried out more safely.
The simultaneous work on several fronts of 18 km of the crossing was divided by construction sectors: Sacavém and Portela nodes, North Viaduct, Expo Viaduct, Main Bridge, Central Viaduct, South Viaduct, South Access and South Node.
On the north bank, the Sacavém and Portela junction was handled by Bento Pedroso Construções, H.Hagen and Teixeira Duarte.
In 1995, the works that would transform that area into an important road interface opened the way for 3 underpasses and 3 viaducts to connect to the Northern Motorway, CRIL, Estrada Nacional 10, Segunda Circular and Parque das Nações (EXPO 98).
The north viaduct was under the responsibility of Teixeira Duarte, this viaduct crosses the Northern Railway Line and will connect to the Expo viaduct, in 1995 the pillars began to be erected, in total there are 10 pillars to support a 488 m long deck.
The Expo Viaduct was carried out by Campenon Bernard SGE, with a length of 672 m, this viaduct is supported by 12 pairs of concrete pillars of varying height.
The deck would consist of 462 pre-fabricated segments called staves, the joining of these staves was made through the construction process of successive advances.
The Main Bridge is a spectacular concrete structure, as the deck is suspended by cables from the main towers, its central span is 420 m and the lateral spans are 203 m.
The central towers measure 150 meters high and the deck is 47 meters above the water level in the area of the navigation channel called Cala do Norte.
The deck is a mixed structure made up of concrete slabs resting on steel carlings embedded in two lateral concrete beams from which the tie rods for the towers originate.
The H-shaped North and South towers rest on foundations also designed to withstand the impact of a 30,000-ton ship moving at a speed of 12 knots. Each foundation of these towers rests on 44 molded piles measuring 2.2 m in diameter and reaching depths of more than 65 m.
The construction of the 6,351m Central Viaduct was carried out using prefabricated beams measuring 78m long and weighing 2,200 tonnes on 81 double pillars.
The foundation of each pair of pillars is based on 8 driven piles, 1.7 m in diameter, which in some cases reach 95 m deep into the riverbed.
The deck is approximately 14 meters above the water level for most of the length of this viaduct, but rises up to 30 meters above the two navigable channels, Cala das Barcas and Cala de Samora, whose 130 m spans allow the passage of medium-sized ships.
On this Viaduct there are 5 widenings of the deck to allow vehicles to stop in an emergency. The deck beams were initially subdivided into 8 smaller sections and were interconnected to make up 78 m in length using pre-stress cables.
The deck beams were transported to the final location using the Rambiz, a large-capacity floating crane. The shipyard worked at an intensive pace, producing one of these beams every two days.
The South Viaduct, 3,825 meters long, consists of a double deck with spans of 45 meters, built using two pairs of launching beams.
The 85 groups of 4 pillars of this Viaduct are based on shaped piles located partly in the river and partly on land.
In its terrestrial part, this viaduct passes through the Samouco Salinas, an environmentally sensitive area for birds. The viaduct was built from a temporary embankment, which was removed after the works were completed.
The 3.9 km of the South Access connects the Vasco da Gama Bridge to the South road junction through mostly agricultural land. The closest local connections are with Setúbal (via the A2/A12 junction) and with Alcochete (via IC3), Montijo, Barreiro (via IC21) and Monte da Caparica (via IC20) (via A33) and Pinhal Novo (via Pinhal Novo junction).
The bridge has a life expectancy of 120 years, having been designed to withstand wind speeds of 250 km/h, and resist an earthquake 4.5 times stronger than the historic Lisbon Earthquake in 1755, an earthquake estimated at 8.7 on the Richter scale.
The bridge has a transverse profile of 3+3 lanes, that is, a total of six lanes with a speed limit of 120 km/h. On windy, rainy or cloudy days the speed limit is reduced to 90 km/h.
The number of lanes can be expanded to eight when traffic reaches a daily average of 52,000 vehicles.
