Construction Construction of an
arch bridge took place between 1854 and 1856. It was designed by
Paul-Martin Gallocher de Lagalisserie and was inaugurated by
Napoleon III on 2 April 1856. Each side of both of the two
piers was decorated with a statue of military nature: a
Zouave and a
grenadier by
Georges Diébolt, and a skirmisher and an artilleryman by
Arnaud.
The Zouave statue and flooding statue The general public took the original bridge as a measuring instrument for water levels in times of flooding on the Seine: access to the footpaths by the river embankments usually were closed when the Seine's level reached the feet of
The Zouave; when the water hit his thighs, the river was unnavigable. During the
great flood of the Seine in 1910, the level reached his shoulders. The French Civil Service used the
Pont de la Tournelle, not the Pont de l'Alma, to gauge flood levels, and since 1868 uses the
Pont d'Austerlitz.
Reconstruction The bridge underwent complete reconstruction as a
girder bridge between 1970 and 1974, as it had been too narrow to accommodate the increasing traffic both on and below it; moreover, the structure had subsided some 80 centimeters. Only the statue of the Zouave was retained: the Skirmisher was relocated to the
Gravelle Stronghold in
Vincennes, the Grenadier to
Dijon, and the Artilleryman to
La Fère.
Death of Diana, Princess of Wales 's car clipped a white Fiat, collided with a road pillar and then hit the wallThe bridge is close to the Pont de l'Alma tunnel where
Diana, Princess of Wales,
and three others were involved in a fatal car crash on 31 August 1997. They were being chased by
paparazzi, and their chauffeur, named Henri Paul, was driving under the influence of alcohol when their car lost control and slammed head-on into a pillar.
Dodi Fayed and Paul were pronounced dead at the scene on removal from the wreckage. Diana was critically injured in the crash and died afterwards from her injuries in the hospital. Their bodyguard, named
Trevor Rees-Jones, was the only one to survive, sustaining a serious head injury. The
Flame of Liberty (completed in 1987), at the bridge's north end has become an unofficial memorial to Diana. The square is now officially named
Place Diana. The tunnel is known as an accident black spot, as there were eight deaths in the area. ==Technical specifications==