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Contents |
The History of Bridges in Venice
Bridges serve as one of the world’s most essential elements of both vehicular and pedestrian networks. Regardless of their design and makeup, these structures chiefly serve two main purposes: to keep two distinct flows of traffic separated at intersections or to grant traffic the ability to cross an otherwise impassable barrier. Venice, or the “City of Bridges,” certainly utilizes the traditional purposes of bridges, but without the incorporation of cars. Due to Venice’s unique water-based transportation system, all the bridges within the city perform both of these functions simultaneously: allowing the primarily pedestrian-based land transportation system the ability not just simply to cross the canals, but also to avoid interfering with the boat traffic that utilizes the waterways below. This allows pedestrian traffic and boat traffic to serve as two completely different entities, which means they never interfere with one another; something rarely found anywhere else in the world. In addition to their most obvious function in the transportation infrastructure, the city’s bridges also play a vital role in the utility network and serve as public art that attracts tourists from across the globe.[1]
Bridges have served as an important piece of infrastructure throughout the history of Venice and its formation from multiple islands. Before bridges existed in Venice, the numerous islands were separate communities with their own churches, stores, and lifestyles. At one time, landowners even used planks as access from one island to the next and charged a small toll to those who wanted to cross over. It wasn’t until the 13th century that bridges were actually constructed in Venice. Once the bridges began connecting the islands, the city of Venice that we now know today began to form into one community. There are now over 450 bridges in the city, with at least one bridge crossing over each of the 182 canals in the city.
Venetian bridges also serve a function that is unknown by most people: as a pathway and carrier for Venetian utilities. Many Venetian bridges carry pipes either underneath their pavement or on their sides. These pipes serve as connectors between islands for a number of essential items; they are specifically used for water, telephone, gas and electricity. These four utilities were added throughout the 20th century as the city began to modernize. Though many bridges in the world carry piping through them, the bridges of Venice serve an especially essential purpose to the people of Venice by carrying all of the cities utilities.
Bridges can also serve as an impediment to those with mobility issues and/or impairments. Millions of people worldwide use assistive devices due to ambulatory disabilities and physical handicaps and one area of concern in the city is handicap accessibility. There are also parents with baby carriages, tourists with suitcases and delivery men with dollies who struggle to cross Venetian bridges. The world has become more and more handicap accommodating, including Venice, but the city is still working to improve handicap accessibility. Of over 450 bridges, there are only currently 7 bridges that are handicap accessible due to ramps or because they lack stairs, one bridge that has an elevator, one that contains a Caregòn alongside it and there are also some bridges that utilize a servoscala (a lift) for handicap individuals. Although some bridges have had work done, such as the addition of handrails or small plastic ramps on each step, there are still problems present throughout the city and the city is working on improving bridges on a case by case basis.
Bridges as Transportation
Venetian bridges are utilized for mainly three different types of transportation: pedestrian transportation, cargo transportation and utility transportation. Pedestrian traffic is obviously the most commonly used of the three and was the original reason that bridges were created in the city. Cargo transportation over bridges has developed into an enormously important aspect of Venetian lifestyle since there are no cars in the city. Cargo is brought in by boats and then delivered by dollies throughout the city by merchants and deliverers. The pathway of utility transportation that lies beneath the majority of bridges and pavement throughout the city is an incredibly complex system and is unknown to most tourists and even native Venetians. All forms of bridge transportation serve as an integral part to the infrastructure of the city and show the importance of fully functional bridges throughout the city.
Bridges are most commonly used as a form of transportation for pedestrians to move from one point to another. These structures serve to either avoid another form of traffic below or to pass over a natural barrier, such as water. Whether the bridge is a small, pedestrian footbridge or a massive, highway overpass, most people consider bridges as a method of transportation for humans, whether on foot, in a car or on a train. Pedestrian transport was the initial reason that bridges in Venice were originally created and this is still their main purpose today. Until defined bridges were built in Venice, the only way across the canals was either by boat or by the earliest form of bridges: wooden planks. Many landowners would place planks from one bank of an island to another island’s bank as a transportation pathway, some even charging a toll for use of the plank. These planks were the first traces of bridges in Venice and were really utilized as the prime source for getting people from one island to the next.
Some Notable Venetian Bridges
There are four bridges that cross the grand canal; the newest was completed in 2008.
Ponte de Rialto
Famous worldwide for the arcades of boutiques that line its walkways, the Rialto Bridge is the oldest bridge spanning the Grand Canal. Despite its obvious role as a major tourist attraction within the city, the bridge was originally constructed to allow foot traffic the ability to cross the Grand Canal for the first time. The high arch of the bridge allows it to perform this function without interfering with the boats traveling below. The bridge has three walkways. Two walkways branch out along the outer balustrades, and the main walkway features shops where millions of tourists each year buy jewelry and glass objects from Murano, among other goods. The history of the Rialto Bridge began in 1181 as nothing more than a series of floating pontoons. The Rialto Bridge, designed by Antonio da Ponte, was built on some 12,000 wooden pilings when the idea of a wooden bridge was implemented in 1250. This bridge only lasted until 1310 when it burned down in a revolution. The Rialto Bridge was rebuild, only to collapse twice, once in 1444, and again in 1524. Again, the Rialto would be rebuilt by 1591, but with one major change: the city decided to rebuild the bridge with stone. The Rialto Bridge has come a long way from its creation. Many had doubted its strength after the string of collapses. The bridge still remains, and is a major landmark of the city of Venice.[2]
Ponte degli Scalzi
The Ponte degli Scalzi, was designed by Eugenuo Miozzi and completed in 1934. This bridge that means, “bridge of the barefoot” was built to replace a Austrian iron bridge. The Ponte degli Scalzi stands tall next to the Ferrovia, the Venetian train station.
Ponte dell'Accademia
Named for the Accademia galleries in close proximity, the Ponte dell'Accademia crosses near the southern end of the canal. This bridge was originally constructed in 1854, but the construction was discussed for centuries before. The first bridge was designed by Alfred Neville out of steel, but was taken down in the early 1930s and replaced by a wooden bridge in 1933. In 1985, that bridge was replaced with an identical bridge that still stands today.
Ponte Calatrava
Venice’s newest bridge, the 473rd bridge, is no doubt the most controversial of the bridges to pass over the Grand Canal.[3] The Ponte Calatrava’s grand opening was originally scheduled for Summer 2007, but the city was unable to even lay down the foundation until August 11, 2007. The budget was also over ten million euro over budget at the time of completion.[4] The idea behind the bridge is shown by its location and architecture. The Ponte della Calatrava connects two of Venice main tourist hubs and has a defining design for Venice. The bridge connects the Ferrovia Station with the Piazzale Roma bus station saving many Venetians and tourists time, eliminating the need to cross two extra bridges. Additionally, the new bridge shows the aim of Venice to become a model for contemporary architecture and art. When the designer, Santiago Calatrava, was given permission to construct this 90 meter bridge over the grand canal, the idea seemed beneficial to the city with its modernized look and use of steel, glass, and Venice’s most principal raw material, Istrian marble.
Bridge Repairs
One of the hardest parts of keeping a city in good condition is to keep up with proper maintenance; this takes good management and delegation to be performed properly. Especially in a tourist city, like Venice, it is sometimes difficult to find and support the necessary funding to keep the city intact at all times, so a plan of action must be taken by the city to execute all the necessities. In Venice, this same cycle of urban and canal maintenance exists and it just as important, if not more important, than any other city in the world. With the approximately 20 million tourists who visit Venice each year, it takes a strategic plan and a massive work force to keep the city in excellent condition. Maintenance work is performed throughout the entire city on bridges, canal dredging, canal walls, docks, sewers, Venetian utilities, as well as pavement. All of these areas include important elements that affect the daily life of the thousands of citizens in the city, as well as the millions of tourists that visit each year. Each year the different pieces of infrastructure become older and more worn due to numerous forms of damage, such as degradation from usage, weather and wake forces. The millions of tourists that visit each year certainly add to the wear and tear of the bridges, pavement and sewers throughout the city and the weather adds an aging effect to all of the external pieces of infrastructure.
The wear and tear of pedestrian traffic certainly takes a toll on the external portions of the bridges, especially since Venice is such a popular tourist destination. The pavements become worn with time and the railings can become loose and broken because they are used so often. Since bridges are a necessity for pedestrians to get around, they are used extremely often by citizens and tourists and become slowly worn more and more each day. Weather adds another factor to bridge decomposition and aging as well. The bridges often become cracked with aging and the rain and various temperatures only worsen the bridge corrosion. The weather also has an effect on the handrails and can cause them to become rusty and lose their paint. This adds to the wear and tear by pedestrians to cause some serious damage, especially on the older bridges and the wooden and metal bridges. Though moto ondoso, or wake damage, causes mainly damage to canal walls, it also has a certain negative effect on bridges. Some bridges have abutments that lie within the canal and all bridges directly connect to the canal walls. Since moto ondoso causes so much corrosion to canal walls and can significantly weaken them, this can directly affect the bridges. With weak canal walls below the ends of the bridges, cracking often occurs, which can lead to a weak and unsafe platform that the bridge is resting on. Though no bridge collapses have occurred in recent years, it is still part of the maintenance cycle that should not be underestimated.
Venetians and their government ran into serious problems when they lacked a strict maintenance plan for nearly a 30 year period. With the help of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) students and other local organizations, such as Insula, the 1990s served as an important decade of data collection. It wasn’t until 1997 when local groups, such as Insula, were formed to help develop a plan and take action for repairs and renovations of bridges. A 1998 project completed by WPI students provided a full analysis of 157 bridges in Venice was completed and documented in a database. This analysis included documenting and evaluating various physical dimensions and observations on the conditions of each bridge, as well as collecting data on the flow of pedestrian traffic and cargo deliveries over selected bridges.
Now, Insula has taken over the majority of maintenance work on Venetian bridges and have spent countless hours planning and repairing the most damaged bridges. The first actions were taken by Insula in 1998 after WPI students completed their 1998 bridge project. The students had begun obtaining physical data on the bridges across the city and Insula took the information that the project team had worked on and created a comprehensive catalog, which contains the measurements collected, as well as photographs of each bridge, and a map of the location. Appropriate thematic maps and graphs detailing the accessibility, conditions, and traffic flow of bridges were constructed using the data. The information benefitted Insula in various ways by providing information that aided them in the process of restoring bridges, allowing them to plan appropriate detours for pedestrians while renovations are taking place, and helping with the issues of handicapped accessibility.
Most of the bridge maintenance work is performed around the canal dredging schedule, since it was canal problems that initially caught the cities attention. Insula has implemented a long term plan for bridge repairs and have also handled the everyday and emergency renovations necessary. Canals were divided into different classifications in terms of damage and makeup of the sediment and have been dredged in order of most damaged to least damaged. During the dredging, the canal is shut down and water barriers are put up to dry the canal. Since this provides a unique advantage and access to the entire canal and its surroundings, maintenance work is performed on the canal walls, docks, bridges, sewers and pavements all at once. The majority of repaired canals are shut down for approximately a six month period and in that period all other surroundings are to be repaired as well. It is important that all the bridges are kept to top physical standards for safety reasons, as well as the importance of keeping the historical aspect of the city intact. Insula has repaired bridges in many different aspects including work on the pavement, the abutments, railings and piping. Work is completed in emergency situations as well, but only when necessary. For example, emergency repairs on bridges would be performed if the bridge has become a safety hazard due to a broken railing. This could cause serious injury to a pedestrian and also increases the chances of an individual falling into the canal or off of the bridge.
The majority of the bridge work that is completed during the canal dredging is along the bridges foundation and abutments. Since the canal is dry, workers gain access to the underside of the bridge, as well as where the bridge meets the pavement of the streets. It is here where cracking and sinking occurs and workers are able to restore the pavement and foundation that has been damaged since the last bridge repair, or even since the creation of the bridge. Since most bridge repairs are coordinated with canal repairs, many damaged bridges are not immediately repaired. To resolve this problem, Insula began repairs on damaged bridges that absolutely needed the restorations.
Not only are repairs performed to keep the city to the safest standards possible, but to keep the historical and artistic aspects of the infrastructure intact as well. Venice is a well known tourist city for not only its unique infrastructure, but the public artwork that the infrastructure creates, as well as the art included on the bridges. The bridges, docks and canals certainly create a special artistic atmosphere that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Millions of tourists visit the city to witness the beauty that is presents, but many do not understand the endless work that is performed to manage the city. For the small amount of public artwork restoration that is done, it is commonly preserved by nonprofit organizations and other companies throughout the city and is maintained on a separate repair cycle.
With the help of the City of Venice, other organizations and even young, inspired college students, Venetian bridges have been utilized, maintained, analyzed and renovated to be kept up to modern standards. Through all the changes and the many years of their existence, the historic and artistic standards have been well preserved.
Making Accessibility in Venice a Reality
There are many people in Venice and worldwide that are affected by mobility issues. For those that can not walk or who are limited by mobility, there have been several projects implemented to insure that they can still travel around Venice. Some of these projects have been successful, while some have been met with several problems.
Servoscala
The Servoscala system was designed to transport handicapped individuals across a bridge. Then they would cross over the top of the bridge and take the Servoscala back down the other direction. These systems have had problems with continuous service, but could be a good way for handicapped individuals to move around the city. Getting the Servoscala system started proved also to be a problem as a key was necessary and no one knew where to retrieve them. Accessible Venice additionally created tourist itinerates that had the key to the Servoscala attached for use alleviating the problem.
Caregòn
In an attempt to eliminate the need for individuals with mobility issues to cross over bridge, a project was put forth to use mechanics to transport those individuals beside the bridge. A team, led by Enzo Cucciniello, designed and implemented the Caregòn project in the city of Venice. The Caregòn serves as a “high chair” that runs alongside a bridge on tracks that run across the canal floor. The mobility impaired individual stands on the Caregòn platform while traffic is halted by the only two traffic lights in Venice, and travels across the canal, much like a train on its tracks. This idea has been implemented once in Venice, next to Ponte Ognissanti and serves as an alternative to physically travelling over the bridge. Like the Servoscala, the Caregòn has run into problems such as vandalism and lack of usage, but does have an attendant for a small time daily who runs the machine for the mobility impaired.
Elevator
One bridge, Ponte Longo, in Venice became handicap accessible with the addition of an elevator. This system works much like the Servoscala by transporting the mobility impaired individual to the top of the bridge. First, the elevator raises the person from the ground level to the top of the bridge then, the person crosses the top of the bridge and takes the elevator back down the other side. There are many people working to better the city for the mobility impaired and it is evident that bridges will have to be analyzed and modified on a case by case basis.
The city also has other plans for the future of handicap accessibility throughout Venice. Some of these plans include the implementation of another mechanical Caregòn, which allows people in wheelchairs, as well as with other mobility issues, to cross a canal without having to use a bridge. This solution along with ramps and elevators are certain examples of possible accessibility throughout the city. Since each bridge and island is unique in its own way, the city will have to treat each bridge with a case-by-case solution to better Venice’s accessibility one bridge at a time.
The future of bridge maintenance can be explained as an endless cycle of renovations. There will always be repairs necessary, as well as options to make the city and its bridges more accessible to the millions of different people who visit each year. There will always be unique solutions and new ideas for how to upkeep the bridges and make them accessible, yet preserve the historical and artistic elements that they bring to the city. It is evident that by working with groups, such as Accessible Venice and Insula, future projects done by WPI students and other students from across the world can be completed to help better the city of Venice. There is plenty of data collection and compilation that could be done to help support the fight for a completely accessible city. Local groups, like those mentioned throughout this chapter, are constantly working to better the city one ramp, elevator or servoscala at a time. They also remain open to new suggestions and support the work of others to help benefit their city. Though no one solution is readily available, with the hard work and diligence of these groups, the City of Venice, as well as future students, work will continuously be performed to better Venice, one bridge at a time.