NEW TEMPORARY BRIDGE FOR KENDAL ARRIVE IN COUNTRY
Oct 28, 2008
The new temporary bridge for the crossing at the Kendal Causeway has arrived in the country. We spoke CEO in the Ministry of Works Cadet Henderson.
Cadet Henderson; CEO, Ministry of Works
"The US Military donated Kendal Bridge has arrived. It will be transported by road from the Port of Belize today to the sight and at present our team is out there preparing the sight to receive several forty foot containers and shortly after that we should begin. We have a design we were awaiting the arrival of the bridge and we are hoping that the weather will improve beyond the next several weeks so that we can commence the earthworks and foundation construction. We have also just received beams to fortify the cause way to extend it to a trusted causeway to make it less vulnerable to wash outs since we will be replacing the gravel section with a bridge system as well."
Henderson says that it will take a couple months to assemble the bridge because of the location and weather permitting. Engineers from the Ministry of Works and the Belize Defense Force will be trained in assembling the single lane structure.
Cadet Henderson; CEO, Ministry of Works
"There is some training value in this as well. Some experts will come in that is specific to this type of bridge that will provide some guidance on the launch of this bridge. When I say so this bridge is a bridge that will be assembled on the embankment and then rolled into position. My expectation is that engineers from the Ministry of Works and the Belize Defense force will be involved. It is a bridge that is 350 feet long in modules of 10 feet. So after we use it here we can use it in the future at many other locations and at different span configuration that we choose."
The bridge is valued at approximately one million Belize dollars and will be the property of the Government of Belize.