Roman bridge of La Alcantarilla

It has a single opening, 7 m long and 4.35 m wide — 6 m counting the parapets — and 4.20 m high from the top of the parapet to the water. The core is opus caementicium; the flanks are opus mixtum with two courses of brick between the stone ones. The arch springs from a base of two courses of rusticated ashlar, the same solution as in the other two Mérida bridges, and its ring preserves 15 voussoirs with a span of 4.20 m, clearly visible from upstream; the intrados is practically untouched since it was built. Like its fellows, it is dated to around 25 BC, and it has Italian parallels such as the Ponte Amato on the Via Praenestina or the Ponte di Santa Marinella.

The state of the fabric is poor because of bad restorations: much of the original ashlar facing was replaced with brick, the vault visible today is brick although the original was ashlar, and of the arch only three granite voussoirs remain at the right springing and two at the left; the parapet is modern. Building the Madrid–Badajoz railway, between whose kilometres 454 and 455 it stands, cut a stretch off it. Today it serves the old road to Aljucén station, and the municipal catalogue proposes bringing it into the visitor circuits.