Langeais Bridge
Record: 358 m
Main Span Record: 90 m
Langeais: the suspension bridge
A tenacious monument, rebuilt five times in 150 years
Look to the south, the suspension bridge: it looks peaceful like that, and even majestic with its arched piles, adorned with turrets. But don't be fooled by this apparent serenity: in 150 years, this bridge has had to be rebuilt no less than 5 times! And the Loire has almost nothing to do with it.
In 1846, King Louis Philippe authorized the construction of a "wire" bridge - that's what the technique was called at the time. It was opened in 1849 but, after ten years... A summer storm... lightning strikes the bridge, it breaks a column, the deck and the suspension system collapse into the Loire. Two years to the day after the disaster, on July 21, 1861, the bridge is once again open to traffic and tolls. But, in 1870, France was at war with Prussia….the enemy's progress had to be slowed down. And the French army blew it up, overriding the opposition of the local authorities and population. When peace returned, a third bridge was completed in 1874. It was stronger than the previous ones, with an independent suspension system. But a new invention soon threatens him: The automobile!
The bridge was therefore restructured so that it could support the new loads. It was also at this time - in the 1930s - that the piles of the bridge were given the Gothic style of the castle; the two monuments echo each other... June 1940, the Second World War. The German army is heading south... We must slow down its progress! The French army blows up the deck of the bridge. It will be necessary to wait until 1949 after using ferries and then a temporary footbridge for the bridge to span the river again. Since then, the bridge has been doing well... it was just modernized in the early 1980s, it is lit up at night in a special way. It is still today, apart from that of the A85 motorway, the only crossing point of the Loire over 45 km, between Tours and Port Boulet.
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