Bizkaia Bridge

         The Bizkaia Bridge is a transporter bridge that links the towns of Portugalete and Las Arenas in the Biscay province of Spain. People call it the Puente Colgante (literally "hanging bridge").

         The 45-m-high bridge with its span of 160 m, merges 19th-century ironworking traditions with the then new lightweight technology of twisted steel ropes. It was the first bridge in the world to carry people and traffic on a high suspended gondola.

         It is the world's oldest transporter bridge and was built in 1893, designed by Alberto Palacio, one of Gustave Eiffel's disciples. The service was only interrupted once, for four years, during the Spanish Civil War, when the upper section was dynamited. Palacio saw his masterwork partially destroyed just before his own death.