Valencia, 21 November 2024
Valencian engineering firm Vielca Ingenieros, in joint venture with Brazilian company Geometrica Engenharia de Proyectos, has developed the design of the Apopa bridge, in El Salvador. It is one of the largest drawbridge bridges in the Central American country, with a total length of 400 meters, of which 320 are through a drawbridge with piles of diamonds more than 85 meters high over the Las Cañas River, which makes it one of the most complex engineering works.
Tendered by the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation of El Salvador, the bridge is a milestone in the construction of infrastructure in the country, due to its complexity and exceptionality. It is the first of its kind, with the capacity to cover long distances and support heavy loads. Located on one of the stretches of the Apopa bypass, it responds to a very versatile type of infrastructure, with columns and supports, used successfully in other cities such as San Francisco (Golden Gate) or in Asia, Europe and other parts of the world.
As Vicente Candela, CEO of Vielca Ingenieros, explains: “More than forty direct people, between specialists and design, have participated in its design. The difficulty of the work shows that the technology of Valencian engineers is still in the front line internationally. The export of our knowledge positions us as one of the first powers in the design of complex engineering works.
The imposing drawbridge has already become a symbol of progress and development for El Salvador, a majestic engineering work designed to ease traffic between the capital and the northern part of the country.
Long-lasting solution
According to Candela, the work will avoid passing through the sector of Apopa, the only access to the area of Chalatenango: “From the exit of Apopa going to the north there is a bottleneck because there are several popular colonies and the road becomes a single lane for
per direction, generating a traffic collapse of many kilometers that translates into traffic jams of an hour lasting easily. The work will thus avoid losing an hour or two in the bottleneck of Apopa.”
The work is proposed as a solution to mobility to and from the northern part of the country, where more than 30,000 vehicles transit daily, and a corridor for traffic to and from the border with neighboring Honduras, reducing congestion in the urban area of Apopa. In turn, the bridge will increase road safety and improve the transport of goods and goods, significantly reducing transportation costs and times.
More than 6 kilometers of bypass
The bridge is part of the Apopa bypass mega-project, which has World Bank financing for its implementation. With a total length of 6.3 kilometers, its purpose is to improve connectivity in the northern metropolitan area of the capital San Salvador.
The estimated budget to build the bypass exceeds 96 million euros. Work is expected to begin later this year, with an estimated 24 months to build.
Spanish presence in Latin America
The bridge is one of many projects that Vielca develops in Latin America, where it has a complete implementation in all countries, with more than 600 workers, six branches and more than 150 active works, plus its own accredited laboratory and a fleet of more than thirty vehicles. In the coming months, the company plans to open two new branches in the area.
