A Footbridge over a Steep River Gorge for the Rehabilitation of a City Center

The old city centre is no more alongside the vibrant streets leading to the University because a deep gorge separates the old quarter from the new city. The old city developed between the gorges of two rivers merging at the tip of a promontory, and the resulting “cul-de-sac” became little more than a lovers meeting place. It’s great to have such a place, but proximity to the University and to the new city needs to be established, bringing pedestrians to the old city and encouraging sustainable mobility. Rocky slopes provide favourable conditions for an arch bridge, smartly inverting the geometry of the arch formed by the slopes and the river below. The depth of the gorge is impressive and is dramatized by the inclination of columns, causing a feeling of vertigo which, however, is counterbalanced by the secondary segmented arches formed by each pair of columns and deck. The deck is practically horizontal and contains two lateral sidewalks 1.5 m wide each, one cycling path2.1 m wide and one 2.4 m wide path for a back and forth small and sustainable electric mobility vehicle. This footbridge may well become a landmark in the rehabilitation of the ancient and admirable city of Vila Real.