Bids submitted for news Kendall Bridge

Since the Kendall Bridge was washed away by Tropical Storm Arthur in the first week of June 2008, travelers in the area have been waiting for the replacement bridge. A gift of a temporary bridge by the US government in October of 2008 did not fit and the government had to install a temporary causeway. Despite commitments that the bridge would have been built by now, this morning, it became known that it will take least another two years.  Bids have been tendered to replace the Kendall crossing and today the Ministry of Works announced that work should start within a couple months on the new structure.  News Five’s Marion Ali has a report.

Marion Ali, Reporting

It has been more than two years since the Kendall Bridge was swept away by swift currents associated with Tropical Storm Arthur. Since then whenever the area floods, part of southern Belize is cut off from the rest of the country.  But the wait to replace the cause way with a permanent structure able to withstand flood waters, is another two years down the road.

Anthony “Boots” Martinez, Minister of Works

“There were three companies that were pre-qualified and only two companies entered bids; that is Kier Kee Chanona, that is a joint venture, and you have Cisco Construction.”

Cisco Construction offered to replace the bridge at a cost of slightly over eleven million dollars while Kier International’s bid stands at sixteen and a half million dollars.  While the contractor is yet to be named, the new structure, according to Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Works, Cadet Henderson, should last at least eighty years.

Cadet Henderson, CEO, Ministry of Works

“We have chosen a design where there are no structural supports within the water course. The bridge spans a single span across the entire river and the only two supports are well on the embankments. In fact, it is behind the existing old abutments of the bridge that collapsed. This bridge is a steel thrust with overhead sway brace. It’s a very significant structure; it’s far more upscale than let’s say our Beaver Dam Bridge, which is a steel thrust as well. It’s more in the category of the mid-span of the Haulover Bridge, which is our longest bridge in the country.”

Marion Ali

“The Kendall Bridge, however, which got swept away like a piece of thin foil when it did in rapid flooding the other day. Most people had thought that because the bridge was relatively new and because of its structure, many people though that that bridge wouldn’t go so easily but it did. What measures will be in place to ensure that during the construction of the new bridge, there will be nothing that compromises its integrity?”

Cadet Henderson

“I believe that the old bridge suffered the fate of collapse principally due to a failure of the centre pier. It had a pier that was virtually in the middle of the river and that pier, we don’t even see evidence of it. In this case we have no such structure in the river but the two structures that will support the bridge will have special provisions against erosion and undermining as you could see on the pictures.”

The bridge that collapsed in 2008 was built in 1988 by the US military.  When it was swept away the US government offered a temporary replacement, which Ministry officials said would take a couple of months for it to be installed.  But soon after, it was discovered that the bridge could not fit the crossing at Kendall.

Tenders are also being offered for the construction of a new bridge in Mullins River, while there is the proposal to construct a new Macal Bridge, scheduled to commence in 2011, with funding from the Caribbean Development Bank.  The Middlesex Bridge is scheduled to be opened in a couple of months.  The Kendall Bridge and others being designed for other areas around the country are expected to be of such superior engineering standards that no one living today should have any for worry when they need to cross these new structures.

Cadet Henderson

“Typically these structures, just nominally speaking, would have a lifespan of clearly over I’d say over eighty years. These would be—the steel components would be galvanized; double dipped hot galvanized protection so you don’t have oxidation like Burrell Boom or Middlesex Bridges were non galvanized structures. So we saw for both bridges, they had a life of less than thirty years. Just comparing, Burrell Boom and Middlesex were similar what we call achropanel bridges and two other bridges were built out of the same material that are galvanized that are still in use. One is on the Ecumenical Drive in Dangriga and one is in the Village of San Miguel in the Toledo District. Identical elements, the panels are modular but because it’s galvanized it’s far more life you get out of it. But this proposal, as I said, we’re happy with the concept as proposed and we look forward to a bridge that will be there for possibly a century or more.”

Marion Ali for News Five.

The Placencia road should be finished by October while the paving of the Patchakan, Xaibe and San Lazaro Roads will be done simultaneously with funds from the CDB.