PSI - Issue 84

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ScienceDirect

Procedia Structural Integrity 84 (2026) 135–142

III Fabre Conference: Existing Bridges, Viaducts, and Tunnels: Research, Innovation, and Applications A new bridge for saving the iconic “Ponte di Ferro” in Roma

M. P. Petrangeli a , A.Polastri a *, S. Trentacarlini a a Mario Petrangeli e Associati srl, Largo dell'Amba Aradam 11 - 00184 Roma

© 2026 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Conference Keywords: preserve, restore, retrofitting, historical bridge, icon, steel. Being the bridge the principal of the few links between the neighborhoods of “Ostiense” on the east bank of the Tiber river and “Portuense” on the west side, it was imperative to intervene so that, in view of the important Catholic Church celebration for the 2025 “Giubileo” it was decided to start an important retrofitting of the bridge with the challenging goals of: removing the 3.5 tons weight limit for allowed vehicles, increasing the road platform from the original 5.10 m to 7.5 m for allowing two lanes of public transportation, introducing additional 2 meters wide lines dedicated to bikers and pedestrians on each side, maintaining in service all the utilities carried by the bridge during the almost 2 years of estimated works duration, increasing the performance of the bridge under seismic conditions and as the last, but actually the most challenging of the goals, preserve and restore the original bridge, erected between 1862 and 1863 by a Belgian company, renewed for the first time in 1910 and nowadays protected by law as being of historical value and an icon of the post-industrial style of “Ostiense” neighborhood. The purpose of presented paper is of describing the project and the on-going works at site for the retrofitting of the iconic “Ponte di Ferro”. Abstract During the night between the 2nd and the 3rd of October, 2021, the historical bridge called “Il Ponte dell’Industria”, better known by Roman inhabitants by the name of “Ponte di Ferro”, was badly damaged because of a fire accidentally started among the bushes underneath the bridge.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-347-307-3898 E-mail address: andrea.polastri@mpaing.com

2452-3216 © 2026 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Conference 10.1016/j.prostr.2026.06.019