Bridge in Colon, Panama
The
Atlantic Bridge
is a
road bridge
in
Colon
,
Panama
spanning the
Atlantic
entrance to the
Panama Canal
. Completed in 2019, it is the third bridge over the canal after the
Bridge of the Americas
and the
Centennial Bridge
, both on the
Pacific
side of the canal.
The bridge is a double-pylon, double-plane, concrete
girder
,
cable-stayed bridge
with a main span of 530 metres (1,740 ft) and two side spans of 230 metres (750 ft). The east and west approaches are 1,074 metres (3,524 ft) and 756 metres (2,480 ft) long, respectively. The bridge was designed by the
China Communication Construction Company
[1]
and built by
Vinci Construction
.
Route
[
edit
]
The bridge is part of a local connection road (as yet unnamed) between Bolivar Highway in the east and the undeveloped western area. It will replace the nearby Panama Canal Ferry. It is the only bridge north of the
Culebra Cut
(
Puente Centenario
).
Construction
[
edit
]
Three consortiums were approved to bid for the bridge construction:
Acciona Infraestructuras
-Tradeco (Spain and Mexico),
Odebrecht
?
Hyundai
Joint Venture (Brazil and Korea), and
Vinci Construction Grands Projets
(France). Tenders were received in August 2012.
[2]
In October 2012, the Panama Canal Authority awarded a contract to the French company Vinci Construction to build a third (permanent) bridge, near the Atlantic side, for an offer price of
US$366 million
.
[3]
At that time the bridge had no name, but
Third bridge
and
Atlantic side bridge
were used, as well as
Atlantic Bridge
.
[4]
[5]
Construction of the bridge and access viaducts, which commenced in January 2013, was planned to take three and a half years and was expected to be completed in 2016.
[6]
The main span of the bridge was keyed (joined into a single span) on 6 September 2018.
[7]
The bridge was unveiled by Panama President
Laurentino Cortizo
and Panama Canal Administrator Jorge Quijano on Friday 2 August 2019.
[8]
-
Western side of Atlantic Bridge during construction (19 March 2018)
-
Construction workers on Atlantic Bridge (1 February 2018)
-
Atlantic Bridge during construction (1 February 2018)
-
Atlantic Bridge during construction (19 March 2018)
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Management
| |
---|
Structures
| |
---|
Locations
| Atlantic side
| |
---|
Passage
| |
---|
Pacific side
| |
---|
|
---|
Expansion
| |
---|
History
| People
| |
---|
Construction
| |
---|
| |
---|
| Airfields
| |
---|
Forts
| |
---|
Ports
| |
---|
Radio
| |
---|
Education
| |
---|
|
---|
|
---|