Rande Bridge

Rande Bridge Ponte de Rande
Carries	Motor vehicles
Crosses	Ria de Vigo
Locale	Vigo, Galicia, Spain
Maintained by	Ministry of Public Works
Designer	Fabrizio de Miranda Florencio del Pozo Alfredo Passaro
Design	Cable-stay
Material	Concrete
Total length	1.558 km (0.968 mi)
Width	23.46 m (77.0 ft)
Height	148 m (486 ft)
Longest span	401 m (1,316 ft)
Number of spans	3
Piers in water	4
Construction begin	1973
Construction end	1978
Opened	1981
Daily traffic	50,000
Coordinates	42.288080°N 8.66051°W / 42.288080; -8.66051 (Rande Bridge)

The Rande Bridge (Galician: Ponte de Rande, Spanish: Puente de Rande) is a cable-stayed bridge in Vigo, Spain. It spans Vigo Ria across the Rande Strait, linking Vigo to the Morrazo peninsula.

It was designed by Italian engineer Fabrizio de Miranda, the Spaniard Florencio del Pozo (who was also in charge of its foundations) and Alfredo Passaro. The bridge was built in 1978. It forms part of the Atlántico toll road. It was exclusively a toll bridge until 2006; the toll was abolished in the section between Vigo and O Morrazo but there is still a toll on the other routes.

It has a length of 1,558 metres, its pillars have a height of 148 metres and its main span measures 401 metres. Although it was not the biggest (cable-stayed) span in the world when it opened, it was the longest span with more than two lanes.

The bridge, which links Redondela and Moaña through the Strait of Rande, is an emblematic piece of engineering in the ria of Vigo.

It currently carries around 50,000 vehicles per day. It is believed that there will be congestion problems in the near future, so several alternatives are being planned. Since its opening to traffic in 1981, 231 million vehicles have passed through it. It cost 3.658 billion pesetas to build at the time and it has been recouped several times thanks to the recently-abolished tolls (23 May 2006).

As a result of the rise in traffic every year, a new bridge is being planned for the Ría in order to distribute traffic evenly. The new bridge will perhaps be on the eastern side of Vigo city, linking the Bouzas bypass to the O Morrazo highway in Cangas, although a very long bridge would be required; a tunnel has also been proposed but this could be much more complex.

References

• (it) De Miranda F., Leone A., Passaro A., 1979, Il ponte strallato sullo stretto di Rande presso Vigo, in "Costruzioni Metalliche", 2/1979.
• (it) De Miranda F., 1980, I ponti strallati di grande luce, Zanichelli Bologna (I), pp. 259–269.

See also

• Battle of Vigo Bay, hold in the area
• Vigo, Moaña and Cangas, the places linked
• flickr photo