The Figueira da Foz Bridge, currently named after its designer as Edgar Cardoso Bridge, has a total length of 1421m distributed by the left abutment with 25m, the left bank viaduct with 630m, the bridge with 405m, the right bank viaduct with 315m and the right abutment with 46m. It opened to traffic in 1982, being at that time the first cable stayed bridge in Portugal. The Bridge has a composite steel-concrete deck. Both viaducts are continuous girders in prestressed concrete. The structure has already been subject to two rehabilitation interventions whose studies were carried out by Armando Rito Engenharia.
In 2005, the works on the Bridge consisted of the rehabilitation of the saddles, the reinforcement of the anchorage system of the back stays, the repair and painting of the steel and concrete structural members and pylons and, also, the repair and painting of the stays protecting system. The intervention in the viaducts included the introduction of external prestressing and of dampers between the decks and the abutments and the repair and painting of all the concrete members. In 2017, rehabilitation and structural reinforcement of the pylons base were carried out.
A new intervention is currently underway with the aim of carrying out the full replacement of the existing cable stays. The replacement solution presented several challenges due to the strict constraints imposed by the original design. During this intervention, a general repair and painting of the Bridge and the access viaducts will also be carried out and the lighting system will be replaced.
