Bridges, new architectural points of view on the city

Inaugurated in July, the Simone-Veil bridge now connects the two banks of the Garonne south of Bordeaux. This monumental work, 549 meters long and 44 wide, forms the link between the brand new Euratlantique district, located on the edge of Bègles (Gironde), and the town of Floirac on the right bank. Delivered four years late, it was eagerly awaited. A conflict over the cost of the operation led the city, the project owner, to change construction companies during the project.

On a formal level, the work is nothing dazzling. It has the rather crude appearance of a slightly rounded concrete blade, supported by sixteen orthogonal piles aligned in pairs. It is its quality of use that distinguishes it: the pleasure of exploring it other than by car, of stopping for a moment, of leaning on the railing to contemplate the landscape from this unique point of view, to sit on one of the large seats that punctuate the crossing to make a phone call or, why not, read a book.

This is the challenge of its great width which has made it possible, alongside the lanes respectively reserved for automobile traffic, buses, and bicycles, to deploy over 15 meters a vast pedestrian space which could be envisaged in the future , and even now, that it goes beyond the limits that have been placed on it. Particularly if a festive event requires it (fairground outlets have been installed for this). At the time of the competition, architects Rem Koolhaas and Chris van Duijn, his partner at the OMA agency, cited the Rialto, the famous inhabited bridge in Venice, as well as the Galata Bridge in Istanbul as a reference.

Great place for gentle mobility

This new infrastructure is part of the dynamic of urban transformation which, since the creation of the tramway and the development of the quays of Bordeaux in the early 2000s, has seen an entire archipelago of new neighborhoods emerge. On a metropolitan scale, there is still talk of “pacifying” the traffic of the A63 as it arrives at Bègles, along the Garonne, as it approaches this new Simone-Veil bridge which marks the entry into Bordeaux ; to reduce the number of lanes, in other words, to slow down traffic, to make room for soft mobility, to develop the river banks, etc.

The OMA project prepares the ground, in a way. It led to the reconfiguration of traffic at the two entrances to the bridge and the extension of the public space it offers to the water’s edge. A stunning little landscaped park has been designed opposite the Arkéa Arena performance hall, on the Floirac side, decorated with large installations, halfway between public art and fun apparatus.

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