Ponte do Infante D. Henrique
Captured from the Douro River during the Six Bridges cruise, this image shows the full span of Ponte do Infante D. Henrique, the newest of Porto’s six traditional bridges across the Douro. The road bridge connects the Fontaínhas area of Porto with Vila Nova de Gaia and was inaugurated on March 30, 2003. It was built to provide a new road crossing when the upper deck of the Dom Luís I Bridge was converted for use by the Porto Metro.
See the page “Scenic Beauty of the Douro River from the Dom Luís I Bridge” for another view of this impressive bridge.
The bridge was named in honor of Infante Dom Henrique (Prince Henry the Navigator), who was born in Porto in 1394 and became one of the principal figures associated with Portugal’s early maritime expansion. The name therefore gives the modern bridge a direct historical connection with the city in which Prince Henry was born more than six centuries earlier.
The bridge was designed under the leadership of Portuguese engineer António Adão da Fonseca, working with Spanish engineers José Antonio Fernández Ordóñez and Francisco Millanes Mato. Its most remarkable feature is the exceptionally shallow reinforced-concrete arch spanning 280 meters (919 ft) across the Douro. The bridge is approximately 371 meters (1,217 ft) long and 20 meters (66 ft) wide, with the arch rising only about 25 meters (82 ft) over its 280-meter span. This unusually low rise gives the bridge the slender profile clearly visible in the image.
The design follows the principles of the Maillart-type arch, named after pioneering Swiss engineer Robert Maillart. The arch itself is only about 1.5 meters (5 ft) thick, producing a span-to-rise ratio of 11.2, which established a world record for this structural type. Rather than the arch dominating the bridge, its remarkably thin profile almost appears to merge with the roadway when viewed from a distance.
Visible in the distance the arch in the distance is the iconic Dom Luís I Bridge. The view provides an interesting comparison between two very different approaches to arch construction: the elaborate iron trusswork of the 19th-century Dom Luís I Bridge and the exceptionally thin, minimalist concrete arch of the 21st-century Ponte do Infante D. Henrique.
Douro River Views
– Scenic Beauty of the Douro River from the Dom Luís I Bridge
– Scenic Beauty of the Douro River and Ribeira from the Dom Luís I Bridge
– Sunset over the Douro River from Jardim do Morro
Explore More about Douro River Bridges
– Six Majestic Bridges Over the Douro River
Dom Luís I Bridge Pages
– Dom Luís I Bridge: Full-Span View from the Douro River
– Dom Luís I Bridge: Porto Entrance to the Lower Deck
– Dom Luís I Bridge: A Bird’s-Eye View from Porto Cathedral Belfry
– Dom Luís I Bridge: A Bird’s-Eye View from Vila Nova de Gaia
– Dom Luís I Bridge: Porto Metro Crossing the Upper Deck
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