Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

's Centennial Bridge () is a major bridge crossing the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

. It was built to supplement the overcrowded

Bridge of the Americas The Bridge of the Americas (; originally known as the Thatcher Ferry Bridge) is a road bridge in Panama which spans the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal. Designed by American civil engineering company Sverdrup & Parcel, it was completed ...

and to replace it as the carrier of the

Pan-American Highway The Pan-American Highway is a vast network of roads that stretches about 30,000 kilometers (about 19,000 miles) from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in the northernmost part of North America to Ushuaia, Argentina, at the southern tip of South America. I ...

. Upon its opening in 2004, it became the second permanent crossing of the canal.

Description

The Centennial Bridge is the second major road crossing of the

, the first being the

. (Small service bridges are built in the lock structures at Miraflores and Gatún Locks, but these bridges are only usable when the lock gates are closed and have limited capacity.) The Centennial Bridge is located north of the Bridge of the Americas and crosses the Culebra Cut (Gaillard Cut) close to the Pedro Miguel locks. New freeway sections, connecting Arraijan in the west to Cerro Patacon in the east via the bridge, significantly alleviate congestion on the

History

The

, which opened in 1962, was the only major road crossing of the

. The traffic over this bridge was originally around 9,500 vehicles per day; however, this expanded over time, and by 2004 the bridge was carrying 35,000 vehicles per day. Since the bridge represented a major bottleneck in the

's Ministry of Public Works requested tenders for a second canal crossing in October 2000.''Puente Centenario - Second Panama Canal Crossing''
, from Road Traffic Technology. The span is incorrectly given as 320 m. The contract to build a replacement bridge was awarded in March 2002. An ambitious schedule of just 29 months was set for construction, so that the bridge could open on the 90th anniversary of the first ship transit of the Panama Canal by the cargo ship ''Ancon,'' on 15 August 1914. The bridge was named for Panama's centennial, which occurred on 3 November 2003. The new bridge was designed by a joint venture between T.Y. Lin International and the Louis Berger Group Inc, and constructed by German-based Bilfinger Berger Ingenieurbau GmbH using resources from its Australian subsidiary Baulderstone Hornibrook. The architects were Elle Sokolow working as an Architect for Geiger-Berger Associates and the

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

-based transportation architect Miguel Rosales from Rosales + Partners who created the concept and initial aesthetic designs for the Panama-Centennial Bridge. Structural engineering contracts were awarded to Leonhardt, Andrä and Partner. The bridge was inaugurated on schedule on 15 August 2004, although it was opened for traffic on 2 September 2005, when the new highways leading to it were finished. Part of the access to the Centennial Bridge collapsed in December 2010, following heavy rain and flooding. In November 2011 full traffic was restored. Southbound on the Panama Canal approaching the Centennial Bridge

Southbound on the Panama Canal approaching the Centennial Bridge

Construction

The bridge is a

cable-stayed 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 ...

design with a total span of . The main span is and clears the canal by , allowing large vessels to pass below it. The bridge is supported by two towers, each high. The deck carries six lanes of traffic across the canal. The Centennial Bridge is designed to withstand the

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

s which are frequently recorded in the canal area. It was built by the German construction firm Bilfinger. The West Tower was built about 50 m inland to allow space for the future widening of the Panama Canal.

Awards

* 2005 Bridge Award of Excellence, American Segmental Bridge Institute (ASBI). * 2007 Merit Award, Consulting Engineers and Land Surveyors of California (CELSOC)

Gallery

File:PuenteCentenario 2008 02.jpg

References

External links

Panama Canal Authority - Photos of the Centennial Bridge

* {{Panama Canal Panama Canal Cable-stayed bridges in Panama Bridges completed in 2004 2004 establishments in Panama Transcontinental crossings Buildings and structures in Panamá Province Transport in Panamá Province