The award was presented on 6 June during the IBC's annual meeting in Maryland (USA), which was attended by over 1,200 bridge engineers, senior executives, politicians and international companies with extensive experience in building bridges.

The prize was collected by Pedro Cavero de Pablo, Head of Transport at FCC Construction, and Pablo Jiménez Guijarro, Director of the project and head of Adif's High-Speed Rail division. Also present was Guillermo Capellán, from Arenas y Asociados, designer of the work.

The viaduct over the Almonte River, situated between the towns of Alcántara and Garrovillas in the Spanish province of Cáceres, is one of the most outstanding feats of modern Spanish engineering. Due to its characteristics and its scale, it represents a benchmark in the field of high-speed railways.

It measures 996 metres long and has a 384-metre central concrete arch-type span, making it a world record breaker in terms of high speed railway arch bridges. If the world ranking of concrete arches, for both railway and road use, were taken into consideration, it would be among the largest in the world.

In Spain, the viaduct symbolises a significant leap, beating the span length of the Contreras Viaduct, which has a 261-metre arch and previously held the Spanish record for concrete railway arch bridges, and the River Tajo Viaduct, currently under construction with a 324-metre span. It entails a huge technical challenge that secures Spain's place at the forefront of international high velocity and engineering projects.

The viaduct is located on the Madrid-Extremadura High Speed Line. As the Almonte river runs off into the Alcántara reservoir, the riverbed itself significantly widens. As such, a viaduct with a special span is required to enable the line to cross it. The Administrator of Railway Infrastructure (ADIF) is the owner of the line that was designed by IDOM and Arenas y Asociados, the latter also being the viaduct designers. The construction has been carried out under a joint venture project comprising FCC Construcción and, with a lower percentage, the Portuguese company, Conduril. The design detail of the viaduct and the construction engineering have been undertaken by the Technical Services of FCC Construcción.

Photo caption: The prize was collected by Pedro Cavero de Pablo, Head of Transport at FCC Construction, and Pablo Jiménez Guijarro, Director of the project and head of Adif's High-Speed Rail division.