This is a list of bridges in the French city of Lyon on the Rhône and Saône rivers, ordered from upstream to downstream portions of the river.
The Rhône
Pont Raymond Poincaré (1939–1989)
This bridge is considered to belong to the bridges of Lyon even though it actually is outside the city's physical limits. The right bank is located in Caluire-et-Cuire, while the left one is in Villeurbanne.
The bridge was built in conjunction with the establishment of Boulevard périphérique de Lyon initiated by President of the General Council Bonnevay Lawrence, a highway that bears his name today. The bridge itself is named after Raymond Poincaré, president of France from 1913 to 1921, and prime minister from 1926 to 1929, during the devaluation of the French franc—a point in time where the franc became known as the franc Poincaré due to its decreased value. Construction of the bridge began in 1937 as a classic concrete arch bridge, for both road and rail traffic, with four piles. While World War II slowed work, construction on the bridge continued through 1940, though an attack by German forces destroyed the bridge's roadway. Despite the setback, construction on the structure resumed shortly after the assault. Towards the end of the war, retreating German forces destroyed the bridge again by dynamiting the structural arches.
The bridge was rebuilt in 1950, but during an inspection, cracks were found in the structural concrete of the bridge and it had to be closed to traffic. After four years of repair work, the bridge reopened in 1954. Ten years later, more cracks appeared below the railroad tracks. The bridge was replaced by a temporary steel structure that remained in place until the reopening of the bridge in its current state in 1989. More recently, both ends of the bridge have been widened and modified to connect to an interchange north of the structure and to a large traffic circle at the Boulevard périphérique.
SNCF viaduct (1857)
This cast-iron railway bridge was built from 1854 in 1857 to support the Lyon-Geneva, which merged in 1857 with the Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM). Today it allows passage via the to the west of France and to Paris. For a few meters it parallels the Raymond Poincaré road bridge and tunnel.
The batteries are still based on piles driven into the Rhône and the construction of the Cité Internationale de Lyon, which narrowed the bed and increased the water level was during a complete recasting, strengthening their bases protected by massive concrete. In 1856, when the work was very advanced, they were detained on suspicion that the bridge and dam had increased the level of the flood. It required the manufacturers to replace the western edge of the dam which limited the Parc de la Tête d'Or by several spans for the passage of water. This provision is still very visible.
Damaged by the Germans in 1944, it was completely reopened to traffic in 1946.
Passerelle de la Paix (2014)
The (Skyway of Peace) is a long pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the Rhône river. It was designed by architect Dietmar Feichtinger and opened to the public in March 2014. It connects the 6th arrondissement of Lyon and the commune of Caluire-et-Cuire.
Pont Winston Churchill (1982)
In 1862, the Marshal de Castellane was a bridge made of boats connecting the Grand Camp to Sathonay-Camp. This bridge was replaced by a metal bridge in 1874.
In 1899, also a new bridge-type metal, the bridge was considered an unusual figure in Lyon because it consisted of two major airlines' arches, resting on two intermediate replacement batteries as the Bridge Loop, due to the large curve of the Rhône against the "balmes Caluire." It was 280 meters long with a small width (10.80 m) to only 5.40 meters carriageway, flanked by two streets of . This caused its narrow loss. It held a limited volume of 7.5 tonnes, which was very inadequate for the needs of traffic.
Rebuilt after the 1944 bombing, the bridge reopened in 1946 and was renamed the Winston Churchill Bridge on January 28, 1966. It was finally demolished in 1981 and replaced by the current concrete deck in 1982.
Pont de Lattre de Tassigny (1956)
The Pont de Lattre de Tassigny, also known as the Egyptian bridge, was erected on the Rhône in 1846. The name originated from the eight Egyptian columns that held up the bridge cables. It was 200 m long with a roadway of 4.80 meters surrounded by two streets of . This structure, renamed the bridge to Louis-Philippe 1849, was carried off by a mill during a flood in 1854.
The bridge reopened to the public on March 30, 1856. Built in a more sober style, it was also slightly narrower (4.90 m roadway and two sidewalks of 90 cm). Called Pont St. Clair (as in 1875), it was renamed Pont Vaïsse on December 21, 1931 in tribute to Claude-Marius Vaïsse.
In 1952, digging for the tunnel de la Croix-Rousse was completed, then the Pont Vaïsse was demolished in 1953 and reconstructed in 1956 a little further down in alignment with the tunnel a new bridge named in honour of Jean de Lattre de Tassigny. The concrete bridge was 150 meters long and 25 meters wide (with a 20-meter carriageway and pavements of 2.50 meters).
Pont Morand (1976)
Originally built in wood by the architect planner Jean-Antoine Morand in 1774, this bridge is the second oldest bridge over the Rhône. It is 208 meters long and 12 meters wide. It had several names: Pont Saint-Clair bridge or Red Wood, originally Affranchi bridge, in 1793, deck wins in 1794, then Morand bridge in 1810. In 1825, the bridge collapsed and was replaced by a flying bridge during its reconstruction. In 1854, to resist floods, the bridge carried St. Clair strikes the bridge piers of Morand blocked the flow of water.
But in the 1880s, the dilapidated bridge threatened to collapse and had to be restricted from traffic. In 1890, it was replaced by a metal bridge structure based on piles of masonry. It was 214.50 meters long, with a surface of 11 meters and two sidewalks of . The central arch was destroyed by the Germans in 1944. On 3 February 1945, a temporary wooden bridge, the bridge building, was opened to allow traffic for the reconstruction of the Pont Morand. It consisted of a deck of 205 meters based on ten cells on stilts. The final bridge was reopened on April 3, 1948.
It was demolished in 1974 in connection with the subway. In 1976, the current concrete bridge along 187 m was inaugurated. It allowed the metro to move within the apron, while cars and pedestrians are on the surface on a surface of 15.50 m wide and two sidewalks of 2 m . Originally designed as the first of two twin bridges, it aligns with the draft of the breakthrough Martinière-Morand, unlike the previous bridge, which was in line with the current Franklin-Roosevelt (former course Morand). This project has been abandoned; the second Pont Morand was never built.
Passerelle du Collège (1844)
This bridge takes its name from the Collège-lycée Ampère because it leads on the right bank to Passage Ménétrier, included in the college of the same name, formerly called the Great College under the Old Regime, the Small College is the square of the same name in the old-town, Vieux Lyon.
It was built due to the pressure of population on the left bank, which had no public high school (the girls did not appear at the end of 19th century and the Parc after the war 1914), the bridge allowed the students not to take detour bridges Morand or Lafayette and cross safely.
The group of bridges on the Rhône were created in 1842 and was required to achieve and a project is approved as early as July. The bridge, of "iron wire", was always based on three rock piles which were renewed from time to time, and had three spans of 96 m at the center and 42.5 m on the sides with a width of .
The construction was marked by a tragic incident. Work was nearing completion on 7 December 1844 when a bolt holding a cable in its sheath broke. The bridge collapsed and eight workers drowned. Work restarted immediately and the bridge opened for traffic on September 3, 1845.
The bridge was partially destroyed in 1944, a battery was rebuilt almost identical in stones (the middle one bears a commemorative inscription). The bridge finally opened to the public on September 3, 1945, since the passage of pedestrians quai Jean-Moulin au quai Général-Sarrail is busy.
Pont Lafayette (1890) This is the third-oldest bridge on the Rhône. In 1826, is first constructed a bridge, the Pont Charles X or Bridge Concert from 1828. 214 m long and 13 m wide, it consisted of timber resting on abutments and masonry piers.
On 5 September 1829 the Marquis de La Fayette made a triumphal entry into Lyon via the bridge, which was renamed in his honour on 19 September 1830. It was washed away by floods in 1840, then again in 1856.
Too old, it was replaced in 1890 by the current bridge, with a steel structure resting on piers of Porcieu-Amblagnieu stone. The central arch was destroyed in September 1944. The bridge was rebuilt and reopened in 1946.
Pont Wilson (1918)
The first bridge, the bridge of the Hôtel-Dieu also known as bridge of the Hôpital, was built in 1837–1839 by the contractor Clauzel, on behalf of the Companie des ponts du Rhône. It was a suspension bridge with a length of , based on solid concrete piers, protected by riprap.
In 1887, the condition of the bridge was considered dangerous and it was finally demolished in 1912. It was replaced by a temporary wooden bridge, then by the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, inaugurated on 14 July 1918. The new bridge was much wider than the former (20 m against 7), and the sidewalks increased from 1.10 m to . A revolutionary structure for the period, it had a reinforced concrete deck resting on piers of stone masonry in the Villette. The bridge was damaged in September 1944 and reopened in 1948.
Bridge of the Guillotière (1953)
The bridge of La Guillotière, also formerly known as the Rhône Bridge, is the oldest bridge over the Rhone. The bridge from the Middle Ages was based on a forest of oak piles, which have made the digging of the subway tunnel, in the 1980s. Some arches were filled on the left bank in the 1820s. This explains the anomaly which Lyon is known as Place du Pont (now Place Gabriel Péri) a place that is a hundred metres from the top deck. In 1859, the largest Gallo-Roman statue of Neptune in France was discovered along the left bank close to the Hôtel-Dieu de Lyon. The bridge was destroyed during the retreat of the German army in September 1944. It was demolished in 1952 and replaced by a wider bridge with a metallic structure in 1953.
University Bridge (1903)
This bridge was built at the site of an old ferry to serve the university buildings erected between 1876 and 1898. When it opened in 1903, the bridge was named bridge of the Faculties, but it was quickly renamed the University Bridge. When it was damaged in 1944, a temporary wooden bridge was established. The bridge was finally reopened in 1947. The bridge, along 267.50 m to 20 m wide, consists of three arches in Longwy molten metal and resting on piers built of Porcieu-Amblagnieu stone.
Pont Gallieni (1965)
A project, outlined in 1830, envisaged the construction of an east-west axis, consisting of either side of the current course of Verdun of a bridge over the Saône (now Kitchener-Marchand bridge) and two bridges over the Rhône. These crossings are appointed every two bridge Seguin, was completed in 1847 and open to the public in 1849.
The new bridge over the Rhône is composed of two shares constructed and others Bechevelin Island. The main bridge over the Rhône is composed of two piers supporting a central span of 60 m long and 7.4 m wide by two side spans respectively 39 and . He took the name of Napoleon bridge, then bridge Séguin (1849), Rhône bridge (1852) and the Midi bridge to 1871. That same year, the Lône Bechevelin is filled.