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Longest pedestrian suspension bridge opens in Portugal
- darknavi 6y agoVery cool, although you'll never see me on it! A perfect thing to look at from afar.
- zapdrive 6y agoYou are not the only one. There are dozens like us! Dozens!
- Saig6 6y agoThis type of bridge is (was for me) an effective way to get over fear of heights. I went on multiple long treks in Nepal in 2019 and you don't have a choice in crossing bridges like this, other than turning around and canceling your trip. The first bridges was absolutely horrible and at the end of the trip the bridges (or other more unsafe places, like narrow trails with big drops) didn't bother me at all.
- blakesterz 6y agoThey point out the largest one in the US is the Gatlinburg SkyBridge https://www.gatlinburgskylift.com/skybridge https://www.gatlinburgskylift.com/skybridge and it looks like Eagle Canyon is the largest in Canada https://www.eaglecanyonadventures.ca/suspension-bridges/ https://www.eaglecanyonadventures.ca/suspension-bridges/
- owenversteeg 6y agoKind of sad that both of those bridges, as well as this new bridge, are all paid access. Walking on a bridge is one of those things you just take for granted as being free, I guess, until it isn't. Thankfully, the former world's longest pedestrian bridge, the Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge in Switzerland, is totally free. It's not like these bridges are particularly expensive, either. The former longest in Switzerland cost only 720k euros to build, and that was constructed in the Alps by a Swiss company with expensive Swiss labor (I seem to recall they have the highest minimum wage in the world.) Seems like an excellent and cheap thing to build if you're a town looking to boost tourism.
- Leherenn 6y agoGenerally, there's no minimum wage in Switzerland (though some Cantons have one, Geneva is at $25/h). But yes, Swiss labour is expensive anyway.
- bloudermilk 6y agoAccording to the article this bridge cost €2.3MM to build, which seems crazy cheap, even for Portugal. Does that sound low to anyone else?
- jerzyt 6y agoI opened the comments specifically to see if anyone else thought the price was unrealistic. I'd be surprised if that price would even cover the cost of materials.
- sk1459 6y agoArticle says 1700lf and looks about 4ft wide, so that’s 6800ft of bridge deck. At $2.8M that would mean they spent $412/sf of deck. Where I live, the state DOT spends about $150/sf of bridge deck for traffic rated bridges. I’ve gotten prices for prefab ped bridges as low as $110 delivered (still have to pay a half-dozen guys for labor and the cost of a crane to place). I guess there were some special construction challenges, but $415/sf is hardly a bargain for a bridge at first blush. That may be low in some places where capital improvement costs are basically just graft.
- ab_testing 6y agoIt does sound awfully cheap to me. For reference, if you ever been to Las Vegas and walked on those pedestrian bridges on the strip , the approximate price tag of those 15 years back was around $20 million. https://m.lasvegassun.com/news/2004/dec/09/cost-of-pedestrian-bridges-limiting-where-theyre-b/ https://m.lasvegassun.com/news/2004/dec/09/cost-of-pedestria...
- listenallyall 6y agoThey all have multiple elevators and escalators, are sturdy enough to handle hundreds of people simultaneously, and were constructed over some of the busiest roadways in the world. Not really apples to apples.
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- snypher 6y agoThe article loaded for a second and then was replaced with all sorts of other bullshit; here's another link if anyone else is suffering https://www.npr.org/2021/04/30/992456396/portugal-opens-worlds-longest-pedestrian-suspension-bridge-and-its-a-trip https://www.npr.org/2021/04/30/992456396/portugal-opens-worl... Also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arouca_516 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arouca_516
- pella 6y ago+ OSM: https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/813680468#map=15/40.9634/-8.1664&layers=C https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/813680468#map=15/40.9634/-...
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- 0x10c0fe11ce 6y agoIn case you want to just have a look at the bridge without going nuts. https://i.cbc.ca/1.6007355.1619716182!/fileImage/httpImage/image.JPG_gen/derivatives/16x9_780/people-walk-along-newly-opened-516-arouca-bridge-in-portugal.JPG https://i.cbc.ca/1.6007355.1619716182!/fileImage/httpImage/i...
- Vinnl 6y agoThe bridge also has its own website with photos: https://ponte516arouca.com/en/516-arouca-worlds-longest-pedestrian-suspension-bridge/ https://ponte516arouca.com/en/516-arouca-worlds-longest-pede...
- globular-toast 6y agoHuh... websites. What a great idea.
- antpls 6y agoI confirm some Reuters articles just disappear after opening the page. Been doing that since the new redesign, a few days ago. We are witnessing the slow death of Reuters.
- throwaway_isms 6y agoObligatory bridge collapse fact: there have been a few historical bridge collapses resulting from walking/stepping/marching which causes vibrations in the bridge that create a feed back loop further syncing the stepping intensifying the vibrations ultimately leading to the failure. Soldiers are supposed to break stride when crossing bridges to prevent collapse. Some people have a fear of the heights of these bridges, I have an irrational fear of vibrational collapse.
- pyuser583 6y agoBack in the 80s the city of SF encouraged people to walk in the GG Bridge to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Almost destroyed the bridge and killed everyone on it.
- throwaway_kufu 6y agoI feel like I remember that, but might be confusing it with another bridge incident. I remember there being elephants in the celebration, significant “waves” in the bridge and some pretty serious injuries...but again I may be confusing it with another incident. Edit: watched video, GG flattened out. Not sure what I am remembering and maybe mixing up a few bridge “disasters” and collapses into one.
- brabel 6y agoI looked it up and it seems that's not what happened. _While there were some injuries, there were no fatalities and the bridge was not damaged._ _The weight of the 300,000 people flattened the normally arched roadbed, although bridge engineers later said there was never any real danger._ Source: https://www.sfgate.com/local-donotuse/article/Golden-Gate-bridge-walk-1987-anniversary-disaster-13896571.php#taboola-7 https://www.sfgate.com/local-donotuse/article/Golden-Gate-br...
- redis_mlc 6y ago> The weight of the 300,000 people I live down the street from the GG ... Why would you risk the lives of 300,000 people on a single ancient bridge near salt water? That's insane.
- webwielder2 6y agoHas "municipality builds kinda neat thing to revitalize local economy" ever worked?
- jameshart 6y agoInvesting in tourist infrastructure in natural parks to increase tourism revenue? Why wouldn't that work? Take a look at Niagara Falls, for example - those viewing platforms and paths and boat launches aren't natural features. Making it easy to get access to spectacular views seems like a pretty good investment in general.
- laurent92 6y agoWhen you throw millions at something, there is always something that works. The question being, is it better than not taking this tax money at all so citizen could revitalize their economy themselves.
- jcfariadias 6y agoIn this case, it does. Bridge toll is 12€ per person, and it's inserted into one of the most popular pedestrian course in Portugal (Passadiços do Paiva).
- forinti 6y agoThis is a pretty nice region, they'll have lots of competition. If you are coming from far, you'll likely prefer to spend your time in Porto and Aveiro. I guess they'll have more local visitors. If I were in Alquerubim I'd definitely go there on the weekend.
- timonoko 6y agoOn Alaskan Hiway they had see-through automobile bridges. Little uncomfortable to bicycle on, mostly because of damage on tires. https://youtu.be/pL2OtC_VLsU?t=1793 https://youtu.be/pL2OtC_VLsU?t=1793
- pestatije 6y agoThose two massive holding towers look completely out of place: https://i.cbc.ca/1.6007355.1619716182!/fileImage/httpImage/image.JPG_gen/derivatives/16x9_780/people-walk-along-newly-opened-516-arouca-bridge-in-portugal.JPG https://i.cbc.ca/1.6007355.1619716182!/fileImage/httpImage/i... How come they couldn't build something like in Charles Kuonen hanging bridge (no tower), it's just 20m shorter: https://media.schneemenschen.de/image/db/222235_haengebruecke_charles_kuonen.jpeg https://media.schneemenschen.de/image/db/222235_haengebrueck...
- unwind 6y agoMy only guess would be since it's a suspenson bridge, maybe the length requires that type of bridge. I'm no bridgengineer though, and haven't looked up and compared the types.
- tyingq 6y agoIt looks like the tradeoff is the angle/rise. The Kuonen bridge requires a 3,000 foot rise in elevation as you walk up it, so it has a sort of in-built tower on one end. The one in Portugal looks relatively flat in comparison.
- ginko 6y agoThe new bridge looks significantly wider than the Charles Kuonen bridge, so I guess it'll be heavier per meter.
- raspasov 6y agoFor me, they look kinda epic :). I like the overall look a lot. But I can see your point about trying to be more minimalist and less invasive.
- Gys 6y agoShort video: https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2021/apr/30/worlds-longest-pedestrian-suspension-bridge-arouca-516-opens-in-portugal-video https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2021/apr/30/worlds-l...