Jones Bridge

Jones Bridge
The present Jones Bridge in 2016
Coordinates	14°35′45″N 120°58′38.3″E / 14.59583°N 120.977306°E / 14.59583; 120.977306Coordinates: 14°35′45″N 120°58′38.3″E / 14.59583°N 120.977306°E / 14.59583; 120.977306
Carries	Vehicular and pedestrian traffic
Crosses	Pasig River
Locale	Manila, Philippines
Official name	William A. Jones Memorial Bridge
Preceded by	MacArthur Bridge
Followed by	Del Pan Bridge (renamed as Roxas Bridge)
Characteristics
Design	Neoclassical arch bridge (1919-1945) Girder bridge (1945-present)
Material	Reinforced concrete (1919-1945) Concrete (1945-present)
Piers in water	2
History
Designer	Juan M. Arellano (1919-1920)
Constructed by	1919-1920: City Government of Manila (1919) Philippine Bureau of Public Works (1920) 1945: Philippine Bureau of Public Works U.S. Bureau of Public Roads
Construction start	1919
Construction end	1920
Inaugurated	1921
Rebuilt	1945
Collapsed	1Q 1945
Replaces	Puente de España

The William A. Jones Memorial Bridge is a bridge that spans the Pasig River in the Philippines connecting the Manila area of Binondo on Rosario Street (Calle Rosario, now Quintin Paredes Street), with the center of city in Ermita. The previous bridge that connected the two areas was the Puente Grande (Great Bridge), later called the Puente de España (Bridge of Spain) located one block upriver on Nueva Street (Calle Nueva, now E. T. Yuchengco Street). That span was considered as the oldest established in the Philippines.

After the Puente de España suffered from wear and tear beyond repair, construction of a replacement bridge was planned. A new bridge was constructed beside the Puente de España which remained in use until the newer bridge's completion. The new bridge was named as the Jones Bridge after former Virginia Rep. William Atkinson Jones, who was the principal author of the Philippine Autonomy Act of 1916. The bridge's construction fully commenced in 1919 by the City Government of Manila but the American colonial government took over to finish the bridge in 1920. Jones Bridge was inaugurated in 1921.

The Neoclassical design by Juan M. Arellano was an ornate concrete arch bridge. The bridge was patterned afte the style of bridges in Paris during the Napoleonic and Haussman eras. The bridge had three arches resting on two piers. The piers' interior was reinforced with steel while the cladding and ornamental designs were made in concrete and pre-cast faux stone.

Arellano placed a statuary of boys on dolphins in the piers which is similar to the Pont Alexandre III in Paris, which Arellano saw himself on a trip back in the Philippine islands from the United States. Other elements of the bridge such as the balustrads, finials, lamp posts and moldings are likewise heavily ornamented. Statuary on plinths were also placed on both ends of the Jones Bridge. A sculptor named Martinez was commissioned to create four allegorical which shared the similar theme of motherhood and nationhood.