The Urban Bridge over the Guadalete River in El Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz, Spain) has a total length of 111 m, and presents quite a few distinctive and challenging aspects. It has only one pier at the river, which is not placed at the midspan. The resulting shortest span (25 m) is actually solved with a bascule steel bridge. The main girder is a composite box bridge, simply supported at the pier and clamped at the butress by means of postensioned anchor bars.

The width is not constant and non-symmetrical with respect to the girder axis. Only two lanes are included in the project, but due to the pursued relevance of the pedestrian use, the deck goes from 13 m to 18-meter-wide. Transversal beams supported by V struts are placed to reduce the transversal flexure. Both parts of the bridge V-shaped bottom steel boxes, with an height of 2.35 m (2.80 m over the pier) and a width of 6.30 m.

The connection between the bascule and fixed spans is achieved through a half-lap joint with 4 cylinder jacks that allow for rotation transmission during service. 

This project was developed in collaboration with architects Antonio González Cordón and Antonio González Liñán (SV60 Arquitectos), co-authors of this design.

Average deck width: 15.50 m
Maximum width of orthotropic deck: 18.80 m
Bascule Counterweight length: 8 m
Counterweight (concrete filled): 4,060 kN
Eccentricity: 4.25 m
Pier hight: 8.83 m