Salpêtrière Bridge in Paris

The Salpêtrière bridge opens up the Gare d’Austerlitz district by linking the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital to Avenue Pierre Mendès-France. Crossing the station’s railway line, it is built in the axis of the Chapelle Saint-Louis and rue François Bloch-Lainé.

This 85 m long and 22 m wide structure offers spacious pavements, a dedicated cycle lane in each direction, bus lanes and a roadway… The fact that it is being launched in successive phases, right next to the railway tracks, means that it has to be phased with particular care. Its steel structure allows the use of a recycled and recyclable material, and on the Salpêtrière side a planted belvedere helps to limit heat islands and contributes to the creation of the biodiversity corridor set up in Paris Rive Gauche.

More than just a crossing, the bridge allows users to stop, look and appreciate the views of the historic buildings.

It consists of a metal box beam that becomes a vierendeel-type beam on the long span. The structure is geometrically complex due to its widening and the evolution of the structure from a traditional beam to a vierendeel-type beam.

On behalf of Eiffage Construction Métallique, Greisch carried out the execution studies for the structure in service, as well as checking and dimensioning the structure during the installation operations (launching over the railway tracks) and craning of the end element on the Avenue Pierre Mendes France side.