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The Arouca City Council announced, this Wednesday, that access to the local structure designated as the largest suspension bridge in the world, due to its 516-meter span, will cost 12 euros per person when it opens to the public.
This municipality of the Aveiro district has not yet set a date for the inauguration of the Ponte 516 Arouca, due to the current contingencies related to the covid-19 pandemic, but it has already approved the price list that it presented this afternoon to the county tour operators.
Margarida Belém, mayor of Arouca, explained to Lusa the option for the value of 12 euros as normal access price to Ponte 516: “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 cover maintenance costs. of the personnel necessary to control and carry out the visits ”.
In addition to the normal 12 euro ticket, the new construction rate provides tickets for 10 euros for students and over 65s, as well as family packs. The experience of crossing the bridge it will be prohibited to minors under six years, but for households with older children there will be a cheaper pack of 30 euros for two adults and one child, and another 40 euros for couples with two minors.
the citizens with accredited residence in Arouca will continue to have free access to the new structure by purchase of a resident card, as was already the case with Paiva walkways. Valid for three years, this document had a cost of 2.5 euros, but now costs 5 for each renewal, always requiring the previous appointment of the visit to the bridge.
Also according to the municipality, the tickets will be available online, as before, and give you the right to travel the eight kilometers of Passadiços do Paiva, among other things because the new bridge is a complement to this tourist route over the river cliffs. However, there is no ticket with 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 mountain range, the pedestrian bridge “516 Arouca” connects the Canelas riverbank with the Alvarenga slope at 175 meters above the most traveled section of the Paiva river. The work is the result of an architectural project by ITeCons – Institute of Technological Research and Development for Construction, Energy, Environment and Sustainability of the University of Coimbra, and the contract was executed by the companies Conduril and Outside Works.
The environmental association SOS Rio Paiva has already expressed some concerns about the opening 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 caused by in wastewater stations upstream “of 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 one enjoys” 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.
When asked about these concerns, Margarida Belém affirmed that the construction of the bridge “516 Arouca” is part of a strategy of “fundamental tourist and economic dynamism 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 stresses, 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 they are observing, experiencing a remarkable work of engineering with a total national seal 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 president of the Chamber affirms that the collection derived from this tourist demand “has allowed to reinforce the intervention of the municipality at an environmental level” and gives two examples: “We are implementing a project for the recovery of the riverside gallery of Paiva that includes, among others interventions, the removal of invasive species. We also have a pilot experiment in 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 entities to solve this problem, but projects such as the ‘516 Arouca’ bridge are fundamental to exert greater pressure on authorities , given the greater visibility that these tourist resources give to any polluting event ”.
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