Ponte della Musica: a landmark bridge in Rome

Ponte della Musica is a shallow arch bridge for pedestrians/cyclists, and designed for future tram use, crossing the River Tiber in Rome in a single span. The project was instigated by an international design competition in 2000 and was opened to the public in May 2011. The bridge is almost 190 m long, and at 20 m wide is one of the widest pedestrian bridges ever built. It is an elegant structure using the highest quality of materials, all of which are typical of Rome and have been sourced locally. Its innovative design uses the springing points of the arch to provide stairs for public access from below the bridge. At a cost of €10⋅5 million it provided excellent value for money for a publicly funded bridge. The low cost was achieved by an efficient design concept, as well as value engineering to reduce the quantity of steel. This paper presents the extraordinary story of this landmark bridge from the competition stage to construction and addresses the creative design process, European collaboration, planning and conceptual design in an urban environment, and discusses the many technical challenges including dynamic analysis, lateral torsional buckling of the long spanning arches and unique foundation solutions.