Hercilio Luz Bridge 4.47

Located in Florianopolis, the capital city of Santa Catarina State in southern Brazil, the Hercilio Luz Bridge is the first bridge constructed to link the Island of Santa Catarina to the mainland.It is the longest suspension bridge in Brazil. The central span was considered quite long (but not the longest, at 340 metres) at the time of its opening and is still one of the 100 largest suspension bridges.Construction commenced on 14 November 1922 with the bridge being inaugurated on May 13, 1926. The total length is 819.471 metres, with 259 metres of viaduct from the island, a central span of 339.471 metres and 221 metres of viaduct from the mainland.The steel structure weighs approximately weight five thousand tons, and the foundations and pillars consumed 14.250m³ of concrete. The two towers rise 74 metres from sea level, and the central span is 43 metres tall.It has been closed to the public since May 13, 1991.Historical backgroundThe bridge was commissioned by Hercílio Luz, then governor of the state of Santa Catarina, to be the first permanent link between the island and the mainland. In addition to benefiting the then 40,000 residents of Florianópolis that were dependent on ferries to cross between the island and the mainland, Luz wanted to build the bridge to strengthen the position of Florianópolis as the state capital. At the time, other cities in the state considered the island to be too remote to be the administrative and political centre and consequently there was a movement to transfer the capital to Lages.