The names in the tender for the new bridge over the Douro River, which will serve the future Rubi Line, are already known
Voting began this Thursday, April 6, and interested parties may express their choice during 30 days.
Thus, according to JN, the names proposed by the selection commission are:
1 - "Boa Viagem Bridge".
The first suggestion is an appeal to the maritime tradition and the strong connection to the sea of the people who live on both banks of the Douro. The route of the future Ruby Line of the metro leads the crossing to pass near the secular chapel with the same name, in Massarelos, Porto, to which the seafarers used to worship.
2 - "Douro Bridge"
The name harks back to the memory of the river. The Douro, notes the working group, is what separates and, at the same time, connects the two banks. It is the great unifying element. It is the one with which the communities on both sides of the river identify themselves, which has determined their lives and the "identity of these lands".
3 - "Ferreirinha Bridge"
This name is intended to evoke one of the Douro's most striking figures: Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira. Her biography reveals her as a unifying element, not only of the Porto-Gaia area (house and cellars, respectively), but also of the whole Douro, including its history, and of Port wine.
4 - "Good Passage Bridge"
The selection committee recalls that "the Senhor da Boa Passagem cross still exists on the left bank, in Gaia, by the Douro River, and on the spot where the pillory stood, destroyed by the great flood of 1909". Although it refers to "another passage", from earthly life to eternal life, it is also identified with the very passage of the river, secularly ensured by a ferry service, so characteristic of these lands.
5 - "Union Bridge"
This suggestion is based on the "secular union between the two cities, Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia, and the celebration of the links that time has deepened, the unity between the two banks, the unity between the people that have filled them".
6 - "Engenheiro Joaquim Sarmento Bridge"
This is "one of the most prestigious names in Portuguese engineering, author of emblematic projects in the city and its surroundings (the old Antas Stadium, Carvalhido and Antas churches, Matosinhos and Bom Sucesso markets)". He was also "master of many other engineers, whom he trained in his long career as professor of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, and the first Portuguese to receive the Leonardo da Vinci Award", recalls the selection committee.
This vote is not restricted to citizens living in Oporto or Gaia, but is open to all and available on the website of the aforementioned media outlet. The chosen name will be announced on 2 June.
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