Presiding at the ceremony was the President of Portugal, Admiral Américo Thomaz. Forty-five months later (six months ahead of schedule) the bridge was inaugurated on 6 August 1966. In 1960, the winner was announced as a consortium headed by the United States Steel Export Company, which had submitted a bid in 1935.Ĭonstruction began on 5 November 1962. In 1959 the international invitation to tender for the project received four bids. In 1953, a new Government commission started working and recommended building the bridge in 1958, choosing the southern anchor point adjacent to the recently built monument to Christ the King ( Cristo-Rei). However, this proposal was subsequently put aside in favour of a bridge crossing the river at Vila Franca de Xira, 35 km north of Lisbon. The commission reported in 1934, and proposed building a road and rail bridge. As a result, the Minister of Public Works, Duarte Pacheco, created a commission in 1933 to analyse the request. In 1929, the idea advanced as a Portuguese engineer and entrepreneur, António Bello requested a Government concession for a railway crossing between Lisbon and Montijo (where the Vasco da Gama Bridge, the second bridge serving Lisbon, was later built in 1998). The name '25 de Abril' commemorates the Carnation Revolution.įrom the late 19th century, there had been proposals to build a bridge for Lisbon. Until 1974, the bridge was named Salazar Bridge. The upper deck carries six car lanes, while the lower deck carries two train tracks electrified at 25 kV AC. With a total length of 2,277 m, it is the 27th largest suspension bridge in the world. It was built by the American Bridge Company which constructed the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, but not the Golden Gate. Because it is a suspension bridge and has similar coloring, it is often compared to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, US. It was inaugurated on August 6, 1966, and a train platform was added in 1999. Lisbon, Portugal, Southwestern Europe.The 25 de Abril Bridge (Ponte 25 de Abril, 25th of April Bridge, Portuguese pronunciation: ˈpõt(ɨ) ˈvĩt i ˈsĩku ðɨ ɐˈβɾiɫ) is a suspension bridge connecting the city of Lisbon, capital of Portugal, to the municipality of Almada on the left (south) bank of the Tejo river. Ponte 25 de Abril (25th of April Bridge), The Cristo-Rei statue (side view).The timestamp is only as accurate as the clock in the camera, and it may be completely wrong. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those of the original file. This file contains additional information such as Exif metadata which may have been added by the digital camera, scanner, or software program used to create or digitize it.

25th april bridge lisbon