On Friday, 24 June, Development Minister José Blanco cut the ribbon on the new bridge over the Miño River in Lugo. The ceremony was attended by Lugo's mayor, José López Orozco, accompanied by representatives of the other local governments that will benefit from the new bridge and senior executives of FCC, including Managing Director Baldomero Falcones and General Manager Avelino Acero.

Since last Saturday the new bridge has been making access to the city centre much easier. Before it was built, traffic travelled by an old Roman bridge, which will now be refurbished in a project funded by the Cultural 1 Percent programme.

Thanks to the construction of the new bridge, cross-river mobility has improved considerably. The project had a budget of close to 30 million euro. Construction began in October 2009 and finished in record time, eight months before the scheduled completion date.

The New Bridge

The bridge's deck is about 195 metres long. Ninety-five metres of this length form a 2,000-ton steel arch reaching over the Miño River; the other 100 metres are devoted to approach viaducts, ending in roundabouts on both sides of the river. The deck has two roadways separated by a central reservation.

Another facet of this project calls for the concurrent construction of two roads west of the Miño River to connect National Motorway VI with roads N-543 and LU-612. These two roads will help the project blend in better both visually and environmentally. National Motorway VI will hook up with road N-543 and southbound road LU-612. In addition, the new roads will open up further connections for traffic between the city and the future highway between Lugo and Santiago, Dual Carriageway A-54.