Madrid Río shall begin the construction of six of its footbridges oiver the River Manzanares this very year, three of which have a ‘unique character’.
The Madrid Río Project, the star initiative from the Mayor, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, in this term, consists in urbanizing the freed land areas after the undergrounding of the M-30 Ring-Road, and will begin this very year with 6 of the 17 cycle and pedestrian footbridges, three of which shall be rehabilitated and the other three will be of “unique characteristic’ construction: one is a vault by Hugo Corres, another is in the shape of a ‘Y’ or cloud by Peter Tanner and Juan Luis Bellod, and the third is a double ringlet shape made of shiny material and measuring 250m in length, designed by the French architect Dominique Perrault.
This and other spectacular footbridges, amongst which, two 50m arch-shaped vaults whose interiors shall be decorated by artists selected by Queen Sofia, have been presented by Gallardón, who has announced that all the projects for the Ribera Park on the Manzanares shall start up this year or next and shall be finished by the first quarter- electoral – in 2011. There will be 17 footbridges which shall be constructed altogether in the next two years to connect up the banks of the river, which are set within a Special Plan called Madrid Rio which is expected to be approved By the Congress on the 25th.
The investment by the Town Hall reaches €40 million and will suppose the doubling of the number of overpasses on the river and more than 1.8Km of routes dedicated to pedestrians and cyclists between the districts on the left bank -Moncloa-Aravaca, Centre and Arganzuela- and those on the right bank -Latina, Carabanchel and Usera-. The representative of Urbanism, Pilar Martínez, indicated that of the 17 new overpasses on the River Manzanares, 11 would be footbridges, 5 would have a unique character and 6 would be simply functional, and another six would be the old dams which used to control the flow of the river, which have been reformed to make them passable.
34 bridges over the river.
When they are finished, the river shall be able to be crossed on foot or by bicycle at 34 points, which doubles the existing number. Said points shall be, on average, 300m apart. Their existence shall interconnect this new area, which covers 110 hectares. An area which includes new green areas, sporting facilities – some destined to Olympic events, 30Km of bike-lanes and 42Km of pedestrian paths, 17 playgrounds and an urban beach. As well as Perrault, other prestigious authors have designed a series of footbridges which Martinez has not doubted in classifying as ‘sculptural’.
For example, Tanner and Bellod have come up with the idea for the ‘Salon de Pinos’ a 100m long, Y-shaped Cloud Bridge, which is inspired on the old railway bridges and has several lookouts, and which is set between the streets of San Ambrosio and San Conrado (Latina) and Mármol (Centre). Hugo Corres has signed three projects, amongst which we can find the twin vaulted shell footbridges which shall act as the access to the Matadero Madrid, as well as the already initiated remodeling of the 125m Oblique Bridge which channeled the traffic from the M-30 and shall also be used by pedestrians and cyclists.
The six functional footbridges have been designed by the team of architects from Madrid Río and a Dutch Landscape Studio called West 8, managed by Ginés Garrido. Gallardón stated that the urbanization of more than three kilometers of pavements and roadways on the right bank, shall have been finished by December, and that by March 2009 the Works fulfilled on 5.4Km along the river shall have finished, including the restoration of the historical dams on the river. This summer, the landscaping of the bank of the San Vicente Roundabout shall begin and a further three stretches on the Salón de Pinos, which shall also be finalized by March 2009.
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