Rochefort-Martrou Transporter Bridge & Ile d'Oleron
Today, after a nice breakfast at the hotel, we set off to visit the sixth of the seven European Transporter Bridges on our list, the Rochefort-Martrou Transporter Bridge, which is the last bridge of this type remaining in France.
This bridge was built between 1898 and 1900 and is to be found in Rochefort,
Charente-Maritime, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.
Crossing
the Charente River, this bridge, which is very similar to the Newport Bridge in
appearance, has a maximum height of 66.5 metres (218 ft) and a total length of
175.5 metres (576 ft). It is a technical masterpiece accomplished by the French
engineer, Ferdinand Arnodin, who also designed the Newport Transporter bridge.
Arnodin’s bridge developed here and dating from 1900 provided a means of crossing from one bank to the other, without hindering shipping traffic. A gondola, suspended from a trolley running on rails, travels back and forth between Echillais and Rochefort. As well as the cyclists and foot passengers that use it today, it used to allow cars, carts and horses on board but that has ceased for some years now.
It
was abandoned in 1967 in favour of a vertical lift bridge, which was in turn
demolished in 1991 a few months after the opening of a new dual-carriageway
road bridge, the Martrou viaduct.
However, the transporter bridge was refurbished by 1994 and is now a historical monument, Until recently crossing on foot or a bicycle was still possible, but not at present as it is currently undergoing further refurbishment to the bridge itself as well as the gondola which can be viewed on the Martrou side of the river
As mentioned in previous posts, Of the twenty or so transporter bridges that were built around the world, only eight remain today:
· The Bizkaia Bridge, the world's first transporter bridge, near
Bilbao (Spain),
· The Martrou Transporter Bridge at Rochefort and Echillais
(France),
· The Osten-Hemmoor and Rendsburg transporter bridges
(Germany),
· The three British transporter bridges in Middlesbrough,
Newport and Warrington (United Kingdom),
· The Transporter Bridge of La Boca in Buenos Aires
(Argentina).
Having come together to form an association, the authorities
that manage these Transporter Bridges have made a joint application to UNESCO
to be listed as a World Heritage series.
In 2003, the 'Maison du Transbordeur' (Transporter Bridge
visitor centre) opened in a converted ferry boat shed, on the Échillais side of the Charente, allowing
the Transporter Bridge to become a fully-fledged tourist attraction.
Here it is possible to discover the history of the Transporter Bridge and take a seat on a virtual gondola and relive the experience of a crossing as if you were there, which in some way makes up for the fact that at present the actual crossing is not operating.
When our visit here was over we drove the short distance to the Ile d'Oleron and continued along the coast to the very tip and stopped at Saint-Denis d'Oleron with its great views out over the Atlantic.
While here we had a great lunch at the Cote Phare restaurant. It was very busy but the service and food were first class.
Later we drove the short distance to Village Boyardville where from the coast we could quite clearly see Fort Boyard across the water.
No comments:
Post a Comment