Puente de Hierro

Puente de Hierro en Logroño | Wikimedia Commons - Autor: Tim Tregenza

The oldest bridge of the four bridges that cross the Ebro River

In Logroño we have all kinds of destinations that attract the attention of pilgrims. Not only those who make their route along the Camino Francés, but even those who venture to start this route from Logroño. On their journey, they can discover unique destinations such as the Imperial Church of Santa María de Palacio. However, many eyes cannot help but stop at the Iron Bridge, the longest in Logroño as well the oldest.

The history of this bridge can be somewhat tragic. This is because, in 1880, there was a stone bridge that crossed the Ebro. One day, it was unusable due to a large flood, so it was necessary to use a large barge to cross. the river. However, that September 1st happened A great tragedy is that, when trying to cross the river, two battalions of the Infantry Regiment lost their lives when the boat gave way, thus dying 90 soldiers.

Devastated by the events, it was the Mayor of Logroño who asked for The Government was asked to build a new stone bridge since, given what happened, barges had proven not to be the appropriate solution. Given what happened, the president of the Government at that moment ordered build, in the first instance, a temporary wooden bridge while commissioning the drafting of the projects in order to, in this way, be able to build a new bridge in Logroño, one with which to guarantee safe access to the city. .

It was the engineer Fermín Manso de Zúñiga who was in charge of designing this bridge. He proposed an iron structure made up of 11 spans of 30 m span each and that these were supported on ashlar abutments as well as ashlar abutments. as in 10 stacks made up of 2 columns. So It was how he was born the iron bridge, which is formed by two lateral lattice beams, with a mid-height board and a stiffening lattice in the lower half.

The budget to build this bridge was almost one million pesetas at the time and it was a unique example of civil engineering, very advanced for that time. For decades it was treated from the main entrance to the city like this such as the connection with the railway. That is why it is presented as one of those unique destinations that no pilgrim should miss.