Ponte Móvel de Leixões Pauses Service on 15 June for APDL's 90-Day €5.63 Million Rótula Swap — A28 Absorbs the Vehicle Detour and Shuttle Buses Cover the Leça-Matosinhos Pedestrian Run

The Ponte Móvel de Leixões — the swing road bridge that links Matosinhos to Leça da Palmeira across the entrance to the Port of Leixões — closes to all vehicle and pedestrian traffic for 90 days from 15 June 2026, the Administração dos Portos do Douro, Leixões e Viana do Castelo (APDL, Administration of the Ports of Douro, Leixões and Viana do Castelo) confirmed on Friday 5 June 2026. The shutdown is the central piece of a 14-month modernisation cycle whose visible works extend through the summer of 2026.

The closure window runs from mid-June through the second week of September, coinciding with the school holiday period when commuter loads across the Leça–Matosinhos axis are at their lowest. Vehicle traffic is diverted onto the A28 motorway — the Porto–Caminha northbound coastal route that already absorbs most port-related freight — and APDL takes on the pedestrian crossing function via a dedicated shuttle bus operating on the same daytime schedule as the bridge in normal service.

The contract is being executed by MONTACO — Tratamentos Anticorrosivos e Construção Civil, S.A. (Anticorrosion Treatments and Civil Construction), with project oversight by Applus+ Serviços. Total investment is €5.63 million, of which 71.19% is community co-financed through PACS — the Programa Sustentável 2030 (Sustainable Programme 2030), the European Structural and Investment Funds envelope that Portugal channels into port and maritime modernisation.

The scope is anticorrosion-led. Scaffolding and access platforms go up first, then degraded steel components are removed, the rótulas — the load-bearing hinges that allow the bridge to swing open for shipping — are swapped out, and the new steelwork receives a full anticorrosion treatment. A new pedestrian walkway and a covered shelter for waiting passengers complete the visible upgrades.

The 90-day immobilisation is the engineering hard requirement: the rótula swap cannot be performed with the bridge in service. APDL has framed the works as a durability and safety intervention rather than a capacity upgrade — the swing function and the lane count on reopening are unchanged. The bridge dates from the original Leixões port construction cycle of the late nineteenth century and was last subjected to a comparable structural intervention more than two decades ago.

Operationally, the closure matters most on the Leça da Palmeira side. Residents on the north bank of the port who currently cross by bridge to reach Matosinhos shops, schools and the metro lose the direct route for the duration. STCP (Sociedade de Transportes Colectivos do Porto, Porto Public Transport Company) bus routes that cross the bridge will be rerouted, and APDL is publishing the shuttle timetable through the free APDL Ponte Móvel mobile app, which also pushes real-time notifications for any unscheduled interruptions.

For visitors arriving by car to the Leixões cruise terminal between mid-June and mid-September, the practical implication is that the bridge cannot be used to switch between the two banks — drivers should route through Matosinhos via Avenida da República and the A28 interchange rather than approach via Leça. The reopening target is the second week of September, ahead of the autumn school term restart.