Once upon a time, there was the Rhône: powerful, impetuous and partly tamed by dams, spanned by bridges, particularly from the Ardèche and the Drôme. With around thirty structures – mainly road bridges, but also footbridges and railway bridges – we invite you on a journey where crossing the river takes you from one region to another.
The bridges over the Rhône in Drôme and Ardèche
For centuries, right up untilthe 19th century, the crossing between the Drôme and the Ardèche was centred on Valence, whilst elsewhere there were traille ferries, such as at Beauchastel, Champagne* or Rochemaure*.
Whilst the northern part of the Rhône-Alpes region had several bridges in various towns in 1820, the departments of Drôme and Ardèche had only one crossing point over the River Rhône, at Valence.
- Map of crossings over the River Rhône in 1820:
- Simplified map of the bridges over the Rhône in 1940
Today, stretching from Serrières in the north of the Ardèche to Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux in the south of the Drôme, around twenty bridges span the Rhône from one department or the other.
Between Ardèche and Isère
To begin with, there are two bridges that are exceptions to the rule, providing a route to the Isère from the left bank of the River Rhône in the Ardèche: the Serrières–Sablons road bridge and the Peyraud–Sablons railway bridge.
For each bridge, based on the available information, the name, the local authority on each bank of the River Rhône, the length, the road that crosses it and the year it was opened.
| Bridge | Right bank (Ardèche) | Rive Gauche (Isère) | Length | Road | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Serrières/Sablon Bridge | Serrières | Sablons | 217 m. | D820 | 1977 |
| Railway bridge | Peyraud (Ardèche) | Sablons | 168 m. | Train | 1933 |
Between Drôme and Ardèche
Starting from Andance in the Drôme and Andancette, the bridges follow one after the other, with some junctions located in only one or the other department.
| Bridge | Right bank (Ardèche) | Rive Gauche (Drôme) | Length | Road | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andance Bridge | Andancette | Andance | 187 m. | D1/D868 | 1977 |
| Saint-Vallier Bridge | Sarras | Saint-Vallier | 236 m. | D86C | 1973 |
| Arras Dam Bridge | Arras | Serves-sur-Rhône | 200 m. | D800 | 1972 |
| Gervans Dam Bridge | – | Gervans | 120 m. | D800 | 1972 |
| Marc-Seguin Footbridge | Tournon-sur-Rhône | Tain-l’Hermitage | 184 m. | Pedestrian | 1849 |
| Gustave Toursier Bridge | Tournon-sur-Rhône | Tain-l’Hermitage | 240 m. | N7/D86 | 1958 |
| Bridge at the La Roche-de-Glun Dam Bridge | Glun | La Roche-de-Glun | 180 m. | D220A | 1968 |
| La Roche-de-Glun Bridge | – | La Roche-de-Glun | 160 m. | D220A | 1967 |
| Bridge at the Bourg-lès-Valence dam | – | Bourg-lès-Valence | 220 m. | D268 | 1968 |
| Frédéric Mistral Bridge | Guilherand-Granges | Valencia | 230 m. | Avenue République / Gambetta | 1966 |
| Lônes Bridge | Let’s be | Valencia | 526 m. | D96 | |
| Bridge over the dam at Charmes-sur-Rhône | Charmes-sur-Rhône | Etoile-sur-Rhône | 197 m. | D11 | 1964 |
| Beauchastel Dam Bridge | Beauchastel | – | 144 m. | Vieux-Rhône | 1964 |
| Pont de la Voulte | La Voulte-sur-Rhône | – | 180 m. | D86F | 1891 |
| La Voulte railway viaduct | La Voulte-sur-Rhône | – | 300 m. | Train | 1955 |
| Pouzin Bridge | Le Pouzin | – | 370 m. | D104 | 1960 |
| Dam bridge at Logis Neuf | – | Les Tourettes | 145 m. | D405 | 1961 |
| Rochemaure Footbridge* | Rochemaure | Ancona | 335 m. | On foot, by bike | 1856/2013 |
| Rochemaure Bridge | Rochemaure | Ancona | 304 m. | D86H/D11 | 1978 |
| Ancona Cross Bridge | – | Ancona | 177 m. | D11 | 1958 |
| Teil Bridge | Le Teil | Montélimar | 315 m. | N102 | 1931 |
| Viviers Bridge | Fish ponds | Châteauneuf-du-Rhône | 275 m. | D86i/D73 | 1954 |
| Robinet Bridge | Fish ponds | Donzère | 300 m. | D86J/D486 | 1847 |
| Donzère Dam Bridge | – | Donzère | 202 m. | The Dams Route | 1975 |
| Power station bridge Donzère Power Station | Fish ponds | Donzère | 262 m. | D93/ D93N | 1975 |
| Donzère Railway Bridge | – | Donzère | 180 m. | Train | 1950 |
| Donzère Bridge | – | Donzère | 180 m. | N7 | 1950 |
| La Garde-Adhémar Bridge | – | Garde Adhémar | 160 m. | D358 | 1952 |
| Bourg-Saint-Andéol Bridge | Bourg-Saint-Andéol | Pierrelatte | 326 m. | D86K/D59 | 1971 |
| La Viaduct Garde-Adhémar Viaduct | Pierrelatte (26) | Garde-Adhémar | 325 m. | TGV | 2000 |
| Saint-Paul- Trois-Châteaux | Pierrelatte (26) | Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux | 150 m. | D59 | 1952 |
Map of bridges in Drôme and Ardèche
And to see the engineering structures from north to south across the two departments, here is a map of the bridges, footbridges and viaducts, including a few nearby ones:
Travel link
- Rochemaure Himalayan Footbridge
- The stack in the Champagne trail bin
- Inventory of bridges over the Rhône, TheRegion↗
- A Geography of the Bridges over the Rhône by Abel Chatelain
- List of bridges over the Rhône (Switzerland, France),Wikipedia↗
- Travel: The Rhône River and Valley