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The General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge is located at the Tablazo Strait outlet of
General Rafael Urdaneta Website in spanish
* {{Structurae, id=20015182, title=Second Lake Maracaibo Bridge
* https://www.venezuelatuya.com/occidente/puenterafaelurdanetaeng.htm Lake Maracaibo Bridges completed in 1962 Cable-stayed bridges in Venezuela Buildings and structures in Maracaibo Road bridges Concrete bridges
Lake Maracaibo
Lake Maracaibo (Spanish: Lago de Maracaibo; Anu: Coquivacoa) is a lagoon in northwestern Venezuela, the largest lake in South America and one of the oldest on Earth, formed 36 million years ago in the Andes Mountains. The fault in the northern se ...
, in western Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
. The bridge connects Maracaibo
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, motto = "''Muy noble y leal''"(English: "Very noble and loyal")
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with much of the rest of the country. It is named after General
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
Rafael Urdaneta
Rafael José Urdaneta y Farías (October 24, 1788 – August 23, 1845) was a Venezuelan General and hero of the Spanish American wars of independence. He served as President of Gran Colombia from 1830 until 1831. He was an ardent supporter ...
, a Venezuelan hero of Independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
who was born in Maracaibo.
Design and construction
Made of reinforced andprestressed concrete
Prestressed concrete is a form of concrete used in construction. It is substantially "prestressed" ( compressed) during production, in a manner that strengthens it against tensile forces which will exist when in service. Post-tensioned concreted i ...
, the cable-stayed bridge
A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern o ...
spans from shore to shore. The five main spans are each long.Virlogeux, p.61 They are supported from tall towers, and provide of clearance to the water below.Dupré, p. 91 The bridge carries only vehicles.
The competition to design the bridge started in 1957 and was won by Riccardo Morandi
Riccardo Morandi visiting Palace of Justice Competition.
Riccardo Morandi (1 September 1902 – 25 December 1989) was an Italian civil engineer best known for his innovative use of reinforced concrete and prestressed concrete, although over the ...
, an Italian civil engineer. Morandi's was the only concrete design out of twelve entries, and was expected to be less expensive to maintain, as well as providing valuable experience of prestressed concrete technology for Venezuela. Construction was carried out by several companies, including Grün & Bilfinger, Julius Berger, Bauboag AG, Philipp Holzmann AG, Precomprimido C.A., Wayss & Freytag and K Ingeniería.
According to eminent bridge engineer Michel Virlogeux
Dr. Michel Virlogeux FREng CorrFRSE (born 1946, Vichy, Allier, Auvergne) is a French structural engineer and bridge specialist.
Career
Virlogeux graduated from the ''École Polytechnique'' in 1967 and from the ''École Nationale des Ponts et Cha ...
:
the Lake Maracaibo Bridge deserves to be part of the series of the most famous bridges over the world, with theGolden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ..., the bridge over theFirth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ..., theBrooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/ suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River ..., and theGarabit Viaduct The Garabit viaduct (french: viaduc de Garabit) is a railway arch bridge spanning the Truyère, near Ruynes-en-Margeride, Cantal, France, in the mountainous Massif Central region. The bridge was constructed between 1882 and 1884 by Gustave Eiffe ....
History
It was opened on 24 August 1962 by the then-president of VenezuelaRomulo Betancourt Romulo may refer to:
People with the given name Romulo Italian
* Rômulo (footballer, born 1987), Brazilian-born football player
* Romulo Cincinato (1502 – circa 1593), painter
Portuguese
* Rómulo (footballer, born 1976), football player
M ...
.
In April 1964, parts of the bridge collapsed after a collision with the tanker ''Esso Maracaibo'', causing the deaths of seven people.
The construction of a second cable-stayed bridge has been proposed since 1982, with a series of studies made since 2000. The cost of the new bridge has been estimated at US$440m, to be largely privately financed via tolls.
The bridge's structural integrity received heightened concern after the August 2018 collapse of a stayed pier on a similar bridge, Ponte Morandi
(English: Morandi Bridge), officially (English: Polcevera Viaduct), was a road viaduct in Genoa, Liguria, Italy, constructed between 1963 and 1967 along the A10 motorway over the Polcevera River, from which it derived its official name. It ...
in Genoa, Italy
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...
.
See also
*List of bridges by length
This is a list of the world's longest bridges that are more than in length sorted by their full length above land and water. The main span is the longest span without any ground support.
'' Note: There is no standard way to measure the total l ...
References
* Dupré, Judith: ''"Bridges"'', Könemann, 1998, * Virlogeux, Michel: ''"Bridges with Multiple Cable Stayed Spans"'', Structural Engineering International, 1/2001Notes
External links
General Rafael Urdaneta Website in spanish
* {{Structurae, id=20015182, title=Second Lake Maracaibo Bridge
* https://www.venezuelatuya.com/occidente/puenterafaelurdanetaeng.htm Lake Maracaibo Bridges completed in 1962 Cable-stayed bridges in Venezuela Buildings and structures in Maracaibo Road bridges Concrete bridges