The debate on “Bridges for Mobility”, as part of the Grand Anniversary Conference of JN, “135 years creating bridges”, brought together, on the 2nd of June, in the city of Porto, two specialists with training in Civil Engineering: Paula Teles, CEO of the company Mobilidade e Planeamento do Território (MPT), Paulo Pinho, full professor at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) and also the architect José Carlos Nunes Oliveira, who designed the new metro crossing between Porto and Gaia .

Paula Teles underlined that “it is necessary, mandatory, that Porto and Gaia develop a sustainable mobility plan”. And she stressed: “We need both territories to embrace the bridge through the network and sustainable mobility”. “The bridge is not enough. We need the two territories, on the side of Gaia and Porto, to be in tune and drag an effective network of smooth modes”, stressed the engineer. “We need concerted, multidisciplinary planning, with a holistic view, which has not been done in the country. We are a country very used to doing works and planning zero”, criticized Paula Teles.

Paulo Pinho, recalled that, in “the last few decades, the increase in general mobility at the country level and in particular in the Metropolitan Area of Porto is enormous”. The civil engineer argued that, more than building infrastructure, the problem of mobility can be solved “by reorganizing cities in such a way that we place people close to goods and services”. In the expert's opinion, “only with urban density can we make transport networks viable”. On the other hand, maintains the full professor, “it is not enough to act on the side of public transport supply; we have to act on the side of the car, not in the sense of demonizing it, but of conditioning its use”.

The architect José Carlos Nunes Oliveira, who was also present at the debate via videoconference, admitted that this debut in bridge architecture was “a big challenge”, mainly due to the “very sensitive site” where the structure will be built.