The new crossing will be built between the Luiz I Bridge and the Arrábida Bridge. A design-build tender, restricted to pre-qualified candidates to ensure the infrastructure is built by the "most qualified," will be launched by the end of the year, stated Bento Aires, president of the Northern Region chapter of the Order of Engineers. He will chair the tender jury and open the project presentation at the Casa do Infante in Porto.

"We estimate the bridge's span will be 250 metres, which corresponds precisely to the width of the [Douro] riverbed in that area, and we are talking about a bridge located approximately 350 metres downstream from the Luiz I Bridge," the engineer specified.

During the signing ceremony for the memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the two municipalities for joint projects, mayors Pedro Duarte (Porto) and Luís Filipe Menezes (Gaia) highlighted that this new crossing over the Douro would improve the quality of life for residents of both cities while also helping to "relieve" tourist traffic from the Luiz I Bridge.

On the sidelines of the presentation, which took place on the eve of the São João festival, the Mayor of Porto stated that it was still too early to consider names for the future bridge, adding that he expects the pedestrian and cycle crossing to be completed in three and a half years.

“We know there are public tenders and procedures we must follow. We don’t control the timing solely through political will, but based on what depends on us and the current estimates provided by technical experts, we are aiming for the end of 2029,” stated Pedro Duarte.

The new crossing is expected to cost 25 million, a sum to be shared between the two municipalities.

“Mayor Filipe Menezes signalled this well in advance (...). He foresaw the need for this quite a few years ago. Now, we—all of us—have reached the level of maturity needed to move forward with this project; I believe it will benefit mobility and bring economic advantages that seem evident for both riverbanks,” Pedro Duarte added, referring to the “Crossing for a Decade” project presented in 2011 by the mayor of Gaia, which envisioned a tunnel, three bridges, and a pedestrian bridge.

Luís Filipe Menezes highlighted the “enormous potential” of the two municipalities having “so many bridges” and envisioned that this new crossing could become “a masterpiece created by great engineers and architects.”

“Hopefully, Portuguese ones,” he quipped.

Regarding the Maria Pia railway bridge, managed by IP (Infraestruturas de Portugal) and decommissioned since 1991, the two municipalities state that they are still “studying alternatives.”