The Rio-Antirio Bridge
Monday, 26th June 2006 by Alex Turnbull
Inspired by some posters I've seen recently advertising a rival mapping service, here's the Rio-Antirio bridge which spans the Gulf of Corinth in Greece, which has the world's longest cable-stayed suspended deck. It was completed in 2004 but is still under construction in these images. (Update: Turns out the bridge in the poster is actually the Vasco da Gama bridge in Lisbon, whoops! Thanks Geoff.)
Due to the movement of tectonic plates, the distance between land here is increasing at a rate of 30 mm per year. To accomodate this, the piers of the bridge are designed to slide, accomodating any expansion of the Gulf within the bridge's lifetime.
There's more at the WIkipedia page and at the official site, neither of which seem to be able to decide how to spell Rio[n]-Antir[r]io[n].
Thanks to Abigail Brady, Will, Bertrand Capo, dustin, Igor and Pille.
About the author
Alex has decided that his title will be Senior Vice President of Stuff.
The bridge in the advert is actually the Vasco da Gama bridge in Lisbon. Not sure how to post Google Maps links but it’s pretty easy to find – and it’s very, very long.
Here’s the wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasco_da_Gama_Bridge
Curses! Thanks Geoff, I knew I should have double checked that it really was the bridge I thought it was… I’ll update the post.
That image doesn’t show either of the bridges mentioned. The one in Portugal has only one cable-stayed span, not two. The style of the towers doesn’t match the Greek Bridge either.
Are you sure it isn’t just an artist’s impression, and isn’t supposed to represent any bridge in particular? It doesn’t look like a realistic bridge design. There are piers underneath stayed parts of the deck, but then there is a long span with no support whatsoever!
It’s still good inspiration for bridge-related posts, in any case.
I agree Jonathon, but I think the bridge in question was constructed from bits of the Vasco Da Gama stuck together in Photoshop!