O jornal britânico The Guardian esteve a escolher as dez pontes mais bonitas do mundo e a ponte Dona Maria do nosso Porto estrondoso ficou em sétimo na lista. O feito da engenharia de Eiffel e a capacidade de se tornar num símbolo da cidade foram alvo do elogio.
“Completed 1877, This is a simple diagram of necessity – a railway line had to be brought across the river Douro and it was impossible to build piers on the river bed. So Gustave Eiffel devised an arch wider than any previously built, its structure widening where the forces are greater, with the dead-straight line of the tracks above. Sometimes untested techniques were used to keep it light and to solve the problem of keeping it up during construction, before the arch was complete. Yet this work of pure engineering also succeeds in being an emblem of its city, something Eiffel would achieve later with a tower in Paris.”
Vejas as restantes nove pontes aqui.