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The Vasco da Gama crossing which spans for 17185m is one of the largest of its kind in the world. The bridge itself is a continuous viaduct of 12300 m long and 30 m wide. It is still the longest in Europe. It crosses the estuary of the Tagus river in its wide part, at the North end of the city of Lisbon, Portugal.
- It has been designed for an earthquake 4.5 times stronger than the historical event of november 1st 1755 (estimated at 8.7 on Richter scale).
- It is able to withstand wind speeds of 250 km/h.
- Deepest foundation piles 2.2 m and 1.7 m diameter have been driven down to minus 85m under mean sea level.
- The design life expected is 120 years.
- Due to bridge length it has been necessary to take into account earth curvature to locate correctly the piers (otherwise a mistake of 80 cm would have appeared at bridge end).
- The main span is a cable-stayed bridge.
Work began in 1995 and the bridge was opened to traffic on March 29 th 1998, just before the Expo 98 World's Fair, 500 years after discovery of India by the navigator Vasco da Gama.
