Beaver Dam Bridge only 85% complete

As Belizeans brace themselves for a possible threat from Tropical Storm Claudette, more than a few of you might have already picked up the phone to find out if there is room at the inn in Belmopan. But if you’ve driven west lately you might have noticed construction crews are still working furiously on the new bridge at Beaver Dam, located at mile thirty-nine on the Western Highway. According to government engineers, the structure is only eighty-five percent complete…with physical requirements slated to be finished by the end of August and total completion set for September. So if we have to hot foot it to Belmopan any time soon, what will happen at the Beaver Dam Bridge? That’s exactly what News 5’s Patrick Jones tried to find out today.

Patrick Jones

“As we speak, there’s a storm system headed our way. If Belizeans need to get from Belize City to Belmopan, Cayo, will that be possible?”

Cadet Henderson, Chief Engineer

“Certainly. We anticipate though a critical situation here at this location. I assume you’re referring to the Beaver Dam site. The old bridge suffered major damage, but we had fortified the mains, the only centre pair, which was most affected, which was undermined. We have more than one thousand, five hundred cubic yards of boulders around that pier that makes it virtually impossible that it would be undermined again. In terms of this bridge we’re building…fifty percent of the centre supports are not just temporary thrusts, but they have pilings as well, so that if the area becomes inundated the piles are driven to significant depths that affords us stability that affords us to have a safe structure even though it’s incomplete at this stage. We have completed pile driving, construction of the abutment, that is the structural supports for the bridge, and we’re just about completing the erection of the steal frame, which is a thrust and next week we commence the actual deck slab.”

Patrick Jones

“People who pass by here see a structure going up, what kind of bridge is being put in place there?”

Cadet Henderson

“This is a thrust of the classification we call our engirder. It is a system that will span clearly sixty metres, or about a hundred and ninety-eight feet, so even though at present you see many temporary supports, when it’s completed it will be support by only two reinforced concrete piled abutment system.”

According to Henderson, the new bridge will have two lanes with sidewalks on either side.