The Kutai Kartanegara Bridge (also known as the Mahakam II Bridge) is an Indonesian

arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...

, formerly a

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

that is located on the island of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

Kalimantan Timur East Kalimantan (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ) is a province of Indonesia. Its territory comprises the eastern portion of Borneo. It had a population of about 3.03 million at the 2010 census (within the current boundary), 3.42 million at th ...

, crossing the

Mahakam River The Mahakam River (Indonesian: ''Sungai Mahakam'') is third longest and volume discharge river in Borneo after Kapuas River and Barito River, it is located in Kalimantan, Indonesia. It flows from the district of Long Apari in the highlands of ...

and connecting

Tenggarong Tenggarong is a town in and the capital of Kutai Kartanegara Regency of East Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. The former Kutai Kartanegara Sultanate's capital was likewise located in Tenggarong. Historically, the then capital was called ''Tepian P ...

and

Samarinda Samarinda is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. The city lies on the banks of the Mahakam River with a land area of . Samarinda ranks first on East Kalimantan Human dev ...

The 710-metre-long bridge, which featured a 270-metre-long suspended section, was intended to resemble San Francisco's

Golden 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 ...

. Construction on the bridge commenced in 1995 and was completed in 2001. It was the longest suspension bridge in Indonesia. On 26 November 2011, the bridge collapsed only ten years after it was completed, killing at least 20 people and injuring 39. The bridge was constructed by state-owned builders PT Hutama Karya at a cost of Rp 150 billion (US$16.4 million).

Collapse

On 26 November 2011 at 9:59pm (local time), while workers were performing maintenance on the bridge, a support cable snapped and the structure suffered a

catastrophic failure A catastrophic failure is a sudden and total failure from which recovery is impossible. Catastrophic failures often lead to cascading systems failure. The term is most commonly used for structural failures, but has often been extended to many oth ...

. The roadway fell into the 50-metre-deep

below, leaving only the two bridge towers and some support cables remaining. At least 20 people were killed and 40 were injured, with an additional 19 people reported missing. A replacement arch bridge was built in 2013 and formally opened in December 2015.

References

2011 industrial disasters Bridges completed in 2001 Bridge disasters in Indonesia Bridges in Indonesia Suspension bridges Buildings and structures in East Kalimantan {{Indonesia-bridge-struct-stub