Seine River Bridges: Viaduc d'Austerlitz

I took this photo of the Viaduc d'Austerlitz, which is usually silver, while it was being repainted. We must be seeing the primer coat. The scaffolding didn't appear to disrupt the train service, but I didn't see any painters on the bridge. Maybe it was the weekend or maybe they only paint at night.  In the U.S. there are strict rules to prevent old lead-based paint from falling in the river. This usually involves putting a tarp under the bridge to catch all the debris.

Because the Metro track alignment was so low, the arch was put above the deck, to keep it from interfering with river traffic.  The bridge is 140 m (460 ft) long, 8.5 m (2 ft) wide, and has a vertical clearance above the river of 11 m (36 ft).

Large, ornamented stone abutments support the ends of the arch.  The steel arch ribs are decorated with sea creatures and the city's coat of arms. The bridge was designed by the engineer Louis Biette and the architect Jean-Camille Formige and opened in 1904.

Seine River Bridges: Viaduc d'Austerlitz by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.