The government may be under a cost cutting regime, but that doesn't mean that work on existing projects has come to a complete halt. One project that's moving along smartly, even in times of austerity is the Young Bank Bridge in the Cayo district. I found that capital 2 expenditure is in full swing with a bridge that will connect Roaring Creek Village to the Valley of Peace area.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
The whir and clank of the gears on this ferry at Young Bank in Cayo may soon be a thing of the past as the steely projection of this 374 foot long bridge, the third largest in the country, magnificently imposes itself over the archaic mode of crossing the river. Cadet Henderson, chief engineer in the ministry of works says the bridge will connect the Valley of Peace farming community as well as the two northern districts, to Cayo.
Cadet Henderson, Chief Engineer
"This bridge is intended to service the farming community of Valley of Peace as well as other agriculture developments in the area. But also it will provide a future link to the Orange Walk and Corozal Area."
And for the past 8 months engineers and workmen from Johnston International have been assembling the $6.9 million assemblage of steel and concrete.
Engineer,
"We have three supports: the south, the pier, and the north which you can see under construction over there and then you have the main element of the bridge."
Alfonso Noble,
Have you all encountered any difficulties problems with the construction of this bridge?
Engineer,
"No everything was very well investigated before we started work so we've had to adjust the method of support for each of the different bridge supports, if you like. So for instance the south part had to be piled to quite a depth whereas the north was put on solid rock."
Cadet Henderson,
"On this location of the Belize River both banks are quite different. The north bank as you can see has rock exposed which is what we call an out rock. The structural support on the north side sits directly on the bedrock. On this side, on the south side, piles were driven for both the pier and the abutment and this eventually will have what we call riff-raff protection against erosion. The structural supports were built earlier this year and about a month or so ago the actual erection of the bridge started and its progressing very well."
So well that it is presently 70% complete with a date set in April of next year for opening. But while the steel jutting out is a sign of promise for residents in the area, the partially completed bridge may still have more than just a river to cross over, it also has to overcome doubts about whether this man made structure will be able to withstand nature's ravages.
Cadet Henderson,
"This is the largest river in the country and this is aptly a very formidable structure. It is well designed to resist all the anticipated forces and it even has buffers to resist horizon forces, maybe 100 years from now the high flood level maybe higher, it is designed to be submerged about one meter under the flood. So it is well above the flood level, about 13 feet above the highest flood level, and it can resist all expected forces."
Forces of nature being one consideration, another is the traffic, and the heavy volume that is expected to traverse the bridge on a daily basis.
Cadet Henderson,
"The structure is designed to meet the HS2044 standard which is adopted by the Americas and that gives it the capacity to handle any type of traffic."
And that is a reassurance that the residents and the farming community may well take to the bank as the economic benefits that this connection will bring to the area are anxiously anticipated.
The bridge will be named the Agripino Cawich Bridge.