The Laguna Garzón Bridge is a

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

crossing the

Laguna Garzón Laguna José Ignacio (José Ignacio Lagoon) is a body of water located between Maldonado Department and Rocha Department, Uruguay. A sandbank separates it from the Atlantic Ocean. This coastal lagoon was previously served by a small 2-vehicle f ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, on the border between the Maldonado and

Rocha Rocha may refer to: * Rocha (surname), a Portuguese surname * Rocha, Moca, Puerto Rico, a barrio in the municipality of Moca, Puerto Rico * Rocha, Rio de Janeiro, a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil * Rocha, Uruguay, capital city of the Rocha ...

departments. The bridge is famous for its unusual circular shape and was designed by Uruguayan architect

Rafael Viñoly Rafael Viñoly Beceiro (born 1944) is a Uruguayan architect. He is the principal of Rafael Viñoly Architects, which he founded in 1983. The firm has offices in New York City, Palo Alto, London, Manchester, Abu Dhabi, and Buenos Aires. Viñ ...

. It is designed in a circular shape to force drivers to slow down, and allows for pedestrian access along the one-way circular route, including

crosswalks A pedestrian crossing (or crosswalk in American English) is a place designated for pedestrians to cross a road, street or avenue. The term "pedestrian crossing" is also used in the Vienna and Geneva Conventions, both of which pertain to road sig ...

that allow pedestrian access to either the inner or outer sidewalks of the circle. Laguna Garzón was previously served by a small 2-vehicle

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

that required daylight and good weather to operate. The bridge replaced the ferry in December 2015, providing a crossing for pedestrians and up to approximately 1,000 vehicles a day.

Construction

Construction for the Laguna Garzón Bridge began in September 2014 and ended in December 2015. It cost $10 million to build, 80 percent of which was provided by Argentine real estate developer,

Eduardo Costantini Eduardo Francisco Costantini (born September 17, 1946) is an Argentine real estate developer and businessman and the founder and chairman of the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires (MALBA). In April 2022, his net worth was estimated at U ...

. To build the bridge, 450 tons of

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

, 500 cubic metres of

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

, and 40,000 metres of

cables Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

were used.

Gallery

File:Bridge Laguna Garzón¡ (detail).png, Detail of pedestrian crossings to sidewalks on the outer and inner circle File:Bridge Laguna Garzón-3.jpg, Positioning of bridge and approaches within the Laguna Garzón

References

External links

The bridge's page on Rafael Viñoly's website
Road bridges Bridges in Uruguay Architecture in Uruguay {{Uruguay-road-stub