The Wilson Bridge is the oldest bridge in Tours, built between 1765 and 1778 by the engineer Mathieu de Bayeux. It is a beautifully proportioned 14-arch stone bridge that carries the Rue Nationale north across the Loire to the suburb of Saint-Symphorien.
Originally called the Pont Royal, it was renamed for the American president Woodrow Wilson after the First World War. Part of the bridge collapsed dramatically in 1978 during low water — a Tourangeau scandal — and was rebuilt. From the bridge itself you get the best view of the Tours waterfront and of the long, sandy banks of the Loire upstream and downstream.