The new contract for Colombia’s Chirajara Bridge project has now been awarded to a consortium, Eiffage-Puentes y Torones. The consortium will handle the design and construction work for the new bridge. The structure will be a replacement for the earlier bridge, which collapsed as its construction was being finalised in January 2018, just a few months before it had been scheduled to open for traffic in March 2018. The collapse of the earlier structure resulted in 10 fatalities as well as causing serious injuries to other construction personnel and the incident caused considerable controversy in Colombia.
This new design will again be a cable-stayed structure, measuring 446m long and will be up to 150m high over the gorge. Work to build the new bridge is due to commence in the first quarter of 2019 and should take 22 months to complete. The bridge construction site is located in the Cundinamarca Department and forms part of an upgrade for Colombia’s National Route 40, between the capital Bogota and Villavicencio.
