Colombia will have the widest bridge in Latin America

The Alberto Pumarejo bridge will be inaugurated at the end of 2019 in Colombia. In its construction, an amount of steel equivalent to four and a half times the height of the Eiffel Tower is used.

Colombia will inaugurate in December of this year in Barranquilla the Pumarejo bridge, the widest in Latin America and whose construction is led by the Spanish company Sacyr.

"Today the work is in 85% execution, in August we will complete the cable-stayed vain, in October we will do the load tests, at the end of the year we will do the complementary works and on December 31 we will officially deliver it to the National Institute of Roads (Invias ), "the project director, engineer David Gutiérrez, told Efe.

The Pumarejo bridge is built at the mouth of the Magdalena River, the main Colombian river artery, by the SES Puente Magdalena consortium, led by the Spanish Sacyr and the Colombian Esgamo Ingeniería Constructores.

The construction of the bridge will employ 33,000 tons of steel, equivalent to four and a half times the height of the Eiffel Tower, and 180,000 cubic meters of concrete.

The Pumarejo is located next to the maritime and fluvial terminal of Barranquilla, consolidating itself as one of the mega-projects of infrastructure in the country and with which it seeks to improve the connectivity and competitiveness of Colombia.

"It is very difficult in this area to see bridges as big as Alberto Pumarejo, which at 38.1 meters becomes the widest bridge in Latin America."

The project director also highlighted the 3,237 meters long bridge (2,247 meters on the main axis and 990 meters of viaducts in connections and accesses), measures that place it as the longest of its kind in the country. The Pumarejo will also have in its central section a span of 380 meters between the two pylons 133 meters high and a gauge of 45 meters.

It will also have two lanes of three lanes each, pedestrian platforms, and bike paths on both sides, features with which they plan to help improve the connectivity of the Caribbean region with the interior of the country.

The Pumarejo bridge will also benefit the mobilization of cargo and passengers along the Magdalena River since its height will allow the passage of high-altitude ships and deep into the interior of the country.

This work will replace a bridge of smaller dimensions that work since 1974 and whose name Alberto Pumarejo was placed as a tribute to the leader Barranquilla that prompted its construction, although it is officially called Laureano Gómez, in honor of that former conservative president.