Pont Charles de Gaulle bridge in Paris



The Pont Charles de Gaulle is a very new bridge over the River Seine designed to ease traffic between the Bercy area and the left bank and between two of the busiest train stations in the city.

About the Pont Charles de Gaulle



With the expansion and changes that were made within the south east area of Paris, like the construction of the Palais Omnisports de Paris Bercy Stadium and the Bibliotheque National de France National Library, which is often referred to as the Bibliotheque Francois Mitterrand, there became a need for a new bridge over the River Seine, so that people could easily go between these two areas on each bank of the River.
Pont Charles de Gaulle south east facade
So it was decided that a bridge was required between the Pont de Bercy and the Pont d’Austerlitz that had become the busiest bridge in Paris, which would help the flow of traffic and pedestrians, and also provide a link between two of the main train stations in Paris called the Gare de Lyon and the Gare d’Austerlitz.

Also at the same time the decision was made for this to be a one way bridge in Paris going from the 13th Arrondissement over to the 12th, as the Pont d’Austerlitz does the same thing in the opposite direction.

And so, in 1987 a competition was launched to select a project from all of the different proposals that were submitted by different architects and engineers, and the winners of the competition were Louis Arretche and Roman Karasinski.
The winning design was chosen due to the discreet nature of the bridge that they envisioned, so as not to affect the view of the Austerlitz viaduct, which is only around 150 metres away, and work started on the Pont Charles de Gaulle in 1993.

Now the Pont Charles de Gaulle is a metal girder bridge over 207 metres in length and over 31 metres wide with three spans going across the River Seine, and was finally completed in the summer of 1996, then inaugurated in recognition of General Charles de Gaulle who was the French leader during World War II.

Visiting the Pont Charles de Gaulle



You will find that the Pont Charles de Gaulle goes from the Quai d’Austerlitz on the left bank of the River Seine in the 13th Arrondissement over to the Quai de la Rapee and the Rue Van Gogh on the right bank in the 12th Arrondissement, which is where you will find the Gare de Lyon train station.
Pont Charles de Gaulle support peirs
Pont Charles de Gaulle north west facade
And as we mentioned earlier, the Pont Charles de Gaulle is located by the Pont de Bercy, which is the next bridge over the River Seine located upstream, yet downstream, you have the Viaduc d’Austerlitz and then further downstream is the road and foot bridge of the Pont d’Austerlitz.

Now when it comes to public transport in Paris, the nearest Metro stops are either the Gare d’Austerlitz via lines 5 and 10 or the Gare de Lyon stop via lines 1 and 14.  Yet both of these are also RER train stops and the first is via line C, whereas the Gare de Lyon train station serves lines A and D, but do not forget that these train stations in Paris also serve the high speed trains to many other destinations around France and Europe.