Latin America’s Longest Bridge to Be Built in Chile
Latin America’s Longest Bridge to Be Built in Chile
February 23 16:39 2014
👤by Carlotta Sallach
After several delays in construction due to high costs, the Minister of Public Works, Loreto Silva now announced that the works on the Chacao Channel Bridge, which will be the longest in all of Latin America, will start in February of the coming year.
PUERTO MONTT — The Chacao Channel Bridge will connect the mainland of Chile with the Island of Chiloé, where the channel has a width of 2.5 km. Overall the bridge will be 2,635 m long and 120 m high over the water of the channel, and will be held by three posts nearly 200 m high which separate the two spans of the suspension bridge.
It will bring big changes for the inhabitants of the area as well as for tourists, who want to visit the Island of Chiloé. Currently the only way to cross the channel is taking a ferry going from Quellón to Chaitén, but ferry services are not only expensive they are also provided only two to three times a week during summer.
Since 2005, when the administration of President Ricardo Lagos proposed constructing a bridge over the channel, planning was postponed many times, due to seismic risk studies or arising doubts on the founding of the $680 million project. Now it seems like all those problems are in the past and Michelle Bachelet, who will be sworn in on March 11, vowed to finally build the bridge in this period of legislation.
More:
http://www.ilovechile.cl/2014/02/23/latin-americas-longest-bridge-built-chile/103455?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=latin-americas-longest-bridge-built-chile
