Ponte Infante Dom Henrique, Porto

Here the Douro is crossed by a bridge whose arch barely seems to rise: at 280 metres across, it has only 25 metres of rise above foundations embedded in the riverside cliffs. That unusually flat proportion places its arch among the world’s shallowest, and its design takes inspiration from Maillart bridges of the Alps. Ponte Infante Dom Henrique, usually shortened to Ponte do Infante, is a road bridge linking Porto with Vila Nova de Gaia.

Finished in 2003, it carries both vehicles and people on foot. It took over a practical job when the upper level of the Dom Luís I Bridge stopped carrying road traffic that same year, making way for Porto Metro’s D Line. The deck traces a calm horizontal line between the hillsides.

The bridge stretches 371 metres overall and passes 75 metres above the river. In the sequence of Douro crossings, it sits upstream of Dom Luís I and downstream of Maria Pia. Its name honours Infante D. Henrique.