Portuguese Architects Want To Move A 136-Year-Old Bridge To Revive Their City

Pedro Bandeira

Although the railway bridge, which dates back to 1877, has been defunct since 1991, it's still the most recognizablestructure in the historic city of 237,000.

Now the architects Pedro Bandeira and Pedro Nuno Ramalho want to scooch the famous Maria Pia Bridge just over three miles inland from its current location over the River Duoro.

Bandeira and Ramalho proposed the project when thePortuguese Council of Architectscalled for ideas earlier this year to help revitalize theAurifcia area in central Porto, which is largely abandoned due to a swell of inhabitants moving to the suburbs, Bandeira wrote in an email to Business Insider. He wanted to make the city desirable again.

According to the architects' plans, the absurdity of finding a wrought-iron bridge in the center of town would attract tourists. Bandeira told Business Insider that he wanted the project to "dignify thisforgotten monument and most important,increase the self-esteem of Portoinhabitants, like me."

It would have taken five months and less than 10 million euros ($13.8 million) to move the bridge,the British architecture magazineDezeen reported.

The relocation of the bridge didn't end up winning the revitalization competition, but Bandeira still thought the project did a good job of attracting attention to Porto.

"The major goal was to provoke debate and draw attention to the problems of the city," Bandeira wrote. "Toexecute a project like ours [even after losing the competition], we would have to talk to and convince everyone not just around the Aurifciablock, but the whole city and I think we are starting that processrightnow."

See how these Portuguese architects would have dismantled and reassembled a 1,158-foot wrought iron structure.

The bridge's latticed girder structure would make it easy to dismantle. Bandeira illustrates the deconstruction in four steps.

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Portuguese Architects Want To Move A 136-Year-Old Bridge To Revive Their City