Just saw the post about Helsinki opening several bridges for a similar purpose, so thought I'd share this here as well.
Porto Metro system didn't exist until around 20 years ago. Just last year, it carried more than 90 million people, and it's not stopping.
While traffic in Porto has actually gotten worse, as tourism and building rehabilitation have exploded, the investment in the metro continues.
This bridge is part of the new "Ruby line", and will provide another much needed way of crossing the Douro river, and will be exclusively used by pedestrians and cyclists, along with the metro.
This line is great because it will connect the other existing lines to a university campus and a large shopping center, while serving a fairly high density area where the residents mostly work in Porto, and have to commute daily.
Sweet summer child, you should have seen Europe at the turn of the century.
I've seen doctors pulling out a cigarette and start smoking in the middle of a ward. Any place you'd go at night - a cafe, a bar, a pub, a disco - and you'd nearly vomit at how your clothes smelled the next day.
Everything and everyone smelled like tobacco.
Nowadays? It's paradise I tell you.