Ponte dos Ingleses, Fortaleza

The Ponte dos Ingleses, renamed by Cearans as Ponte Metálica, is located on Praia de Iracema, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. It was a project to improve the port structure of Fortaleza.

The construction of the Lucas Bicalho viaduct was started on September 24, 1921, by the English company Norton Griffts Co. to serve as a port for the city of Fortaleza, replacing the old Metálica Bridge. However, it never functioned as a port. The viaduct was part of the preliminary project of a port-island proposed by engineer Manuel Carneiro de Sousa Bandeira, and developed by engineer Lucas Bicalho. Construction began in 1921, during the government of President Epitácio Pessoa, and was suspended during the government of Artur Bernardes, during which time it remained unfinished.

In 1994, a project to recover the bridge was approved by the Secretary of Culture of the State of Ceará. The bridge was recovered and urbanized for public use, besides having received a wooden frame over part of the viaduct, a project by the architects Fausto Nilo and Delberg Ponce de Leon, also responsible for the architectural design of the Dragão do Mar Center for Art and Culture. Currently, the Bridge of the Englishes also has a Center for Dolphin Protection and a Tower for Observation of Cetaceans.