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The Arouca City Council announced this Wednesday that access to the Ponte 516 Arouca, designated as the largest suspension bridge in the world for its span of 516 meters, will cost 12 euros per person when it opens to the public.
The date for the inauguration of the structure has not yet been set by the municipality, mainly due to the current contingencies related to the covid-19 pandemic, but the price list has already been approved and presented, this afternoon, to the tour operators of the municipality.
Margarida Belém, mayor of Arouca, explained to Lusa the option of 12 euros as a normal access price: “As a unique engineering work, Ponte 516 Arouca is an exclusive and unique experience and the cost of entry will help control flows and guarantee a quality visit. These prices will also help to cover the expected maintenance costs and to hire the necessary personnel to control and carry out the visits ”.
In addition to the normal entry at 12 euros, the new construction rate includes tickets at 10 euros for students and over 65s, as well as family packages. The experience of crossing the bridge will be children under six years, but for households with older children, a cheaper package of 30 euros for two adults and one child, and another 40 euros for couples with two minors, will be available.
Citizens with accredited residence in Arouca will continue to have free access to the new structure by purchasing a resident card, as was the case with Passadiços do Paiva. Valid for three years, this document had a cost of 2.50 euros, but now costs 5 for each renewal, always requiring prior reservation for the visit to the bridge.
Also depending on the municipality, tickets will be available online, as before, and grant the right to cover the eight kilometers of Passadiços do Paiva, because the new bridge is a complement to this tourist route through the river cliffs. However, there is no ticket at a different price for those who want to visit the bridge alone without accessing the rest of the route.
Inspired by the Inca bridges that crossed the valleys of the Andes Mountains, the Arouca 516 pedestrian bridge connects the Canelas riverbank with the Alvarenga slope at 175 meters above the busiest stretch of the Paiva River. The work is the result of an architectural project of ITeCons – Institute of Technological Research and Development for Construction, Energy, Environment and Sustainability of the University of Coimbra, the undertaking was in charge of the companies Conduril and Outside Works.
The environmental association SOS Rio Paiva has already expressed some concerns on the inauguration of the new bridge, arguing that investment in tourist structures should be accompanied by measures to “control invasive species” and “a strong investment in the elimination of pollution from upstream sewage stations” in the municipality , specifically in the municipalities of “Vila Nova de Paiva and Castro Daire”.
Arguing that the bridge “contributes little to the way in which it is enjoyed” a section of the territory that “has always been valued for being one of the best preserved and wildest of the Paiva River, introducing only the adrenaline component and all the media coverage inherent “to the work, the association asks to avoid” the serious problems that arose after the opening of the Catwalks in 2015 “due to the excessive flow of tourists.
Asked about these concerns, Margarida Belém stated that the construction of the 516 Arouca bridge is part of a strategy of “tourist and economic dynamism which is fundamental for the settlement of the population and for the generation of wealth at the local level ”, especially in the case of an“ interior territory ”such as the one at hand.
The socialist mayor emphasizes, however, that the same strategy also obeys a pedagogical mission of environmental and social responsibility: “We want those who visit us to realize the rich and unique heritage you are watching, undergoing remarkable engineering work with a fully national stamp, and at the same time awakening to the growing need to preserve our biodiversity. We want to continue affirming Arouca as a green, sustainable destination, with a quality and differentiating offer ”.
The mayor says that the collection derived from this tourist demand “has made it possible to reinforce the intervention of the municipality at an environmental level” and gives two examples: “We are implementing a restoration project of the riverside gallery of Paiva that includes, among other interventions, the elimination of invasive species. We are also running a pilot experience of ecosystem services, in order to generate options for economic diversification in the context of sustainable forest management in the municipality ”.
Regarding the sources of pollution originating in other municipalities, Margarida Belém observes: “We have started all efforts with the competent authorities to solve this problem, but projects such as the 516 Arouca bridge are essential to exert greater pressure on the authorities, given the greater visibility that these tourist resources give to any polluting event ”.
