Bridge over the Cervol River

The mouth of the river Cérvol in the Mediterranean is today a marginal place without character. It is an abandoned wasteland pending incorporation into the urban fabric of Vinaroz. The canalisation of the mouth and the construction of the sewage treatment plant within its natural course have further degraded the plain of gravel and sand where the river and the beach merged on the shores of the Mediterranean. The Fora Forat bridge is located in the closest place to the sea where it is possible to do so. It resolves the discontinuity established by the Cervol and the hydraulic infrastructures associated with its mouth and links up with the paths and promenades that run along the coast; and on a more local scale, the bridge is associated with two small pine groves, one to the south - the Fora Forat pine grove, already mature - and the one we propose to the north where the bridge disembarks.

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The bridge yields its visual prominence to the sea, to the mouth of the river and to the pine woods that accompany it. It does so with a ‘horizontal’ profile, an invisible line on the horizon of the Mediterranean. Its 50-metre long single-span strip-tesa structure allows the deck to be built with voussoirs that are only 12 cm wide. This extraordinary slenderness and its position parallel to the coast create a balcony that floats above the sea.

The bridge is made up of a small number of elements that facilitate easy maintenance in the aggressive marine environment and help to make it light and robust: foundations on deep micro-piles, precast concrete segments, railings made of stainless steel profiles and mesh and the two 700 mm by 30 mm steel plates that support the deck. On the east side of the bridge, a thick-section Ipe wood handrail tops the railing and gives the bridge a certain ‘marine’ character.

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In order to overcome the 100-year flood line, the catenary route of the catenary that configures the belt-tesa requires the south abutment to be 90 cm above the level of the pavement of the Fora del Forat walkway. This elevation is resolved with a ramp that makes it accessible and with a grandstand where it is possible to sit and contemplate the sea.

The currently vacant area to the north is proposed as a horizontal and continuous surface on which a plantation of two species of pine trees naturally reconstructs the landscape of the Mediterranean coast, trying to conserve the character of an ‘open field’. The project integrates the civil construction of the bridge with the urbanisation of its surroundings to make it friendlier, while maintaining the naturalness and a certain ‘untidiness’ that we consider to be a value of this part of the coast.