It was August 1966 when it was inaugurated under the watchful eyes of thousands of people. This Thursday, 6 August 2026, the 25 April Bridge marks its 60th anniversary.
Formerly known as the Salazar Bridge, the first crossing over the Tagus was built in less than four years, during the Estado Novo regime, at a final cost of 4.49 million contos (old Portuguese currency), the equivalent of around 22.39 million euros.
Regarded as "the biggest public project" ever carried out in Portugal up to that time, the construction involved around 3,000 workers every day, 14 civil engineering companies, 11 of them Portuguese, and tens of thousands of tonnes of steel, making this infrastructure an international benchmark in engineering.
The bridge, suspended by steel cables and supported by orange-coloured metal towers inspired by the Golden Gate in San Francisco, currently has two decks. The structure was designed to carry rail traffic as well, which only began operating around thirty years after the inauguration.
The bridge linking Lisbon and Almada stands out for its main span of 1,013 metres, the largest in Europe for a crossing that combines road and rail traffic.
