Pont du Robinet

The Pont du Robinet is a Suspension bridge over the Rhône at the town of Donzère in the Département Drôme.

Pont du Robinet
Pont du Robinet
Coordinates 44°27′09″N 4°41′53″E
CrossesRhône
LocaleDonzère
Characteristics
DesignSuspension Bridge
Total length333 m
Width5,5 m
History
Opened1847

Location and Name
View of the Pont du Robinet from the Donzère side. Below left is the train track and in the background the Canal de Donzère-Mondragon

The bridge starts at the cliff face on the west side at Donzère, where there is just enough room for the train track of the Paris–Marseille railway. On the other side in the Département Ardèche is a road through the former flood bank.

The name of the bridge is said to come from the owner of the land a Robin Berton, known as Robinet.[1]

History

There was previously a ferry at the site of the bridge. Privileges dating from 877 and renewed in 1147 were granted. In 1804 a suspended rope ferry was constructed with the rope attached to a tower on the west end of the bridge. This ferry was in use until the bridge was built.[2]

In 1833 there was a plan to replace the ferry with a suspension bridge. In 1845 Hubert Fournéry was given authorisation to build the bridge and receive tolls from it for 99 years. The construction began in the same year and finished in 1847.

The bridge was badly damaged by a storm in 1854 and floods in 1856. The ferry was used again until the bridge was repaired in 1859. In the following decades the bridge was once again damaged by storms and improvements were made to stiffen the bridge. In 1902 the road was renewed and additional trusses and beams added.

In the Second World War the bridge was destroyed by the Resistance to impede the German retreat. The rebuild was completed in 1950 and at the same time discussions began about a connection to the newly built Canal de Donzère-Mondragon.

In 1974, it was decided on safety grounds to dismantle the bridge. But the citizens of Donzère secured its reopening in 1979.

The Pont du Robinet has been a protected monument since 1985.[3]

In the 2000s repairs were carried out.

Description
Anchor pier

The bridge is 333m from Anchor pier to Anchor pier. It is 5.5 m wide except at the pylons where it is 3.6 m wide. The maximum weight is 3.5 t.[4]

gollark: You can do 8-socket Xeon Platinums at *horrible, horrible* cost, but that's, er, 224 cores.
gollark: I don't think Intel has anything with 900 actual cores, or even 900 threads.
gollark: No, the 64-core server epycs.
gollark: AMD has twice the core count at lower cost anyway.
gollark: I have at least 20 memes about them.

References
  1. Le Pont Du Robinet à Donzére on over-blog.com
  2. Bac à traille du Robinet ou bac à traille de Donzère at patrimoine.rhonealpes.fr
  3. Mérimée PA00116943, Ministère français de la Culture. (in French) French Culture Ministry
  4. Pont routier du Robinet de Donzère at  patrimoine.rhonealpes.fr

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.