M.I.D.H. to Replace BelCan and Swing Bridge in Belize City

The Government of Belize is seeking funding through the Kuwait Fund and the OPEC Fund for International Development to replace two bridges in Belize City. According to Evondale Moody, BelCan Bridge and the Belize City Swing Bridge are both in urgent need of repair. A recent assessment revealed that the concrete pillars under the BelCan Bridge are already showing signs of deterioration. We spoke via Zoom with Evondale Moody, the Engineering Coordinator in the Project Execution Unit at the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, about the deteriorated bridges.

Evondale Moody

Evondale Moody, Engineering Coordinator, Project Execution Unit/MIDH

“Based on an assessment we did for the three bridges in Belize City which is the BelCan Bridge, the BelChina Bridge, and also the Belize City Swing Bridge, we have determined that two for those structures requires immediate replacement. Those are the Belize City Swing Bridge and the BelCan Bridge. The Belize City Swing Bridge has been there for quite some time and over the years they have done bridge improvement work on the structure itself. However, based on the assessment we have seen that the bridge has significantly deteriorated whereby it has a lot of corrosion on the structure and the turning table that use to make it swing does not function anymore. Similarly the BelCan Bridge has been there for quite some whole and based on our assessment we have seen that two of the piers that are in place right now needs to be replaced because for one pier we have eighteen of twenty piles that have shown signs of spalling and for the other pier we have all twenty piles that have shown signs of spalling. It is important for us to note that we cannot bring down both structures at the same time because we only have the BelChina and the Chetumal Bridges in place. If that is done we will have chaos in terms of the traffic movement. So, the idea is to have the bridges replaced one at a time commencing with the BelCan structure. Once that is done we will definitely need to have a plan in place for the construction of a pedestrian crossing somewhere adjacent to the Save-U supermarket to allow pedestrian and students who use that structure on a daily basis.”