Ballena Viaduct

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Civil architecture · Year: 2000 · Authors: Marcos Pantaleón, Óscar Ramos

The Escaleritas Viaduct project arose from the need, posed by the City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the Cabildo de Gran Canaria in a public tender, to resolve the communication problems existing between the Escaleritas and La Feria del Atlántico neighbourhoods, due to the lack of the necessary transversal connection to cross the Barranco de la Ballena, an extensive ravine that separates them and is currently being transformed into an ever-expanding urban park.

The Escaleritas Viaduct has a total length of 220 m, distributed in 4 spans of 100 m (cable-stayed span), 42 m, 42 m, and 36 m. This eminently urban structure links the Escaleritas and La Feria neighbourhoods, giving a strong spatial sense to an area of the city in constant growth. The width of the viaduct is 21.50 m. The deck is a mixed steel-concrete box section, supported on the piers with a single support, creating a torsion span of 220 m. The mast, 36 m high, is metallic and connects the 10 supporting cables that hold the deck (in a single central plane) with the two families of rear cables, anchored to respective retention blocks.

The backbone of the structure is the slender metal mast from which the supporting and retention cables depart. This element, with smooth shapes, rises to a height of 36 m above the ground and stands as a true visual landmark, although its height has been adjusted to that of the adjacent buildings. The very space requirements to accommodate the retention cables give full meaning to the roundabout at the bridge entrance, which distributes incoming and outgoing traffic. The mast has been conceived as a single line in elevation, sober, without breaks, and with sufficient inclination to maintain an image of rest, free of tension. The curved thickening at the lower part provides a larger base of support and gains the space between the mast and the protective casings of the rear cables.

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