Last Thursday, November 21th, the MC2 Estudio de Ingeniería team, along with some colleagues from the TYPSA Structures Department, INTEMAC, and TEKNES, realised a journey to Bilbao to visit the construction site of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum (MBAB) extension and the Vizcaya Suspension Bridge.
During the visit, we were glad to meet Mikel Zugaza and José Mari de Vega, from the museum’s management, the construction site managers of the consortium in charge of executing the MBAB extension, and the project technical responsible, as well as a representation of the management team of the Vizcaya Bridge Concessionaire.
The site works at MBAB, where MC2 is in charge of the project and technical assistance to the Construction Management, are currently in their most spectacular phase: for the bridge-like building with a 51 m span supported by two alignments of “V” supports, the upper floor has been concreted using lightweight concrete, the steel structure and rebars of the lower floor has been placed, and the construction of the main steel trusses is almost finalized.
In the afternoon, the team moved to Las Arenas (Getxo), dominated by the imposing yet slender structure of the Vizcaya Bridge, a special type of suspension bridge known as “transporter bridge” due to the presence of a gondola that brings vehicles and people across the Bilbao estuary, connecting the towns of Portugalete and Getxo.
The project and construction of this iconic structure, inaugurated in 1893 and a landmark of engineering, technology, and construction of the late 19th century, was the result of the collaboration between two great historical figures of that time: the Spanish architect D. Martín Alberto de Palacio Elissagüe and the French engineer D. Ferdinand Arnodin. In 2006, the Vizcaya Bridge was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The transporter bridge is essentially a frame composed of two double lattice towers, 61 m high, and a horizontal beam spanning 160 m, 45 m above the water level, from which hangs a mobile system made up of the trolley and the gondola. The gondola slides silently just above the Nervión River waters at a maximum speed of 2 m/s, covering the 150 m journey in a minute and a half.
Managed by the Concessionaire El Transbordador de Vizcaya since 1996, the bridge operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, requiring constant inspection and maintenance tasks, carried out diligently and tirelessly by the maintenance and operations team led by Roberto Villanueva.
Defying the rain, the team walked along the bridge deck, guided by Marta Uriarte, Managing Director of El Transbordador de Vizcaya, and Javier Goitia, former advisor and consultant for the concessionary company, and a great connoisseur of the structure, its mechanisms, and above all, its history. We listened attentively to their speech, revealing their deep attachment and passion for a structure that, more than any other, defines and identifies the landscape at the estuary of the Nervión River in the Abra.
Since 2022, MC2 has been conducting inspections of the transporter bridge and has prepared the Annual Reports for its conservation and maintenance. Additionally, MC2 has drafted rehabilitation projects for specific elements of the structure to extend its useful life and ensure the continuity of its service.
