2003: The Infante Dom Henrique Bridge in Portugal is Opened

March 30, 2003

An arch bridge in northern Portugal’s Porto metropolitan area was inaugurated. This 1,217-foot (371-meter)-long bridge spans the river Douro and carries both vehicular and pedestrian traffic between the city of Porto and the city and municipality of Vila Nova de Gaia.

The bridge was named after Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460), the third son of King John I of Portugal (1357-1433) and a pivotal figure in 15^th century European maritime exploration. Henry has been formally known in Portugal as Infante Dom Henrique. (“Infante” was a title given to a Portuguese monarch’s son who was not heir to the throne, and “dom” is a noble honorific similar to “lord.”)

Construction on the Infante Dom Henrique Bridge began in 1999. The civil engineers involved in designing this bridge included José Antonio Fernández Ordóñez (1933-2000), António Adão da Fonseca (born in 1947), and Franciso Millanes Mato (born in 1951).

Photo Credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrisen (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Uspn) – licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

For more information on the Infante Dom Henrique Bridge, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infante_Dom_Henrique_Bridge