Lisbon, Aug. 6, 2026 (Lusa) - Portugal's infrastructure minister, Miguel Pinto Luz, said on Thursday that two new Tagus crossings will be completed within 10 years: a third bridge between Chelas and Barreiro, and a tunnel between Algés and Trafaria.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the 25 April Bridge, Pinto Luz said that the construction period for the new bridge, a road-and-rail project planned to link Chelas (Lisbon) to Lavradio (Barreiro), is expected to be «roughly the same», that is, between four and five years.
«It will be a different bridge [from the 25 April Bridge], with a different type of infrastructure and a different design and engineering approach, but the construction time will be roughly the same,» said the Minister for Infrastructure and Housing.
According to Miguel Pinto Luz, «the government is working with IP [Infraestruturas de Portugal] on the full set of specifications, including the environmental impact assessment for the new crossing».
«The new crossing must be completed before the new airport or at the same time as the new airport, and so this is something that is already underway,» he emphasised.
Noting that the construction of new crossings over the Tagus has taken place in «30-year cycles» – «Sixty years ago we had the 25 April Bridge, about 30 [years] or thereabouts we had the Vasco da Gama Bridge, and we must now, in the coming years, launch the third crossing» – the minister pointed out that, «for the first time, the cycle will be twofold».
«We are not just proceeding with the third crossing. This government has also decided to proceed with the Algés-Trafaria tunnel. So, in a way, we have brought forward the 30-year cycle so that we will have two more crossings within 10 years, to link these two banks», explained Miguel Pinto Luz.
And, he stressed, the construction schedule for the new bridge must not be delayed: «It must not, because we would face several problems. Firstly, we would not be honouring our commitment to the Spanish Government to guarantee a high-speed rail link taking three hours by 2034. Secondly, we cannot guarantee that the new airport – the major national infrastructure investment – will be served by rail. Therefore, we cannot even run that risk,» he added.
PD/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
