The bridge reopened to pedestrians and vehicles on Monday this week following its long closure and interventions which cost in excess of one million euros.
Lagos Mayor Maria Joaquina Matos said she was “greatly satisfied” for having managed to “answer to one of the local population’s greatest yearnings.”
Reopening the bridge was in fact one of Maria Matos’ main pledges in the candidacy that saw her elected as mayor in the 2013 local elections.
The million-euro overhaul of the century-old bridge was originally due to be finished by May but that deadline had to be extended by 60 days.
According to Lagos deputy mayor Hugo Pereira the bridge’s closure “caused minor damage to the local economy, but major disruptions in access to Meia Praia, especially during the summer season, with a clear loss for those going to the beach”.
“Traffic jams were the biggest problems”, he added.
D. Maria bridge, one of the main access routes between Lagos and Meia Praia, was closed to all traffic – motorised and pedestrian – in February 2012, on the recommendation of the National Civil Engineering Laboratory (LNEC), for “risk of imminent collapse”, after an inspection conducted on its support structure.
Renovation works included the construction of a new, wider bridge deck, and the structural reinforcement of 12 pillars with micro-piles and architectural rehabilitation.