Belize City Bridges in Bad Condition; BelCan Needs to be Replaced Soon

As you may know, works have already begun to construct a new bridge to replace the Haulover Bridge, which connects Belize City to the northern part of the country. And it would seem that the BelCan, BelChina and Swing Bridges in Belize City also need replacing.  Back in May, Minister of Infrastructure Development Julius Espat shared his ministry’s concern about the deplorable condition of these bridges. He shares the findings of the analysis conducted by engineers on the bridges across the city.

Julius Espat

Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructure Development

“We are doing a feasibility study. I got the opportunity to insert the three bridges as a part of the feasibility and that’s why the initial report was done. Now that we have gotten the approval, the engineers are now working on a preliminary design to be able to come up with the first estimates. Of the three bridges, the BelChina is the best; that needs like normal maintenance – painting and stuff like that. The second is Swing Bridge in how it is holding up. The Belize City Council had done some work a couple years ago and that alleviated it a bit, but it is just like a band-aid effect. The major one is the BelCan. We will have to make a proposal as to that. Yes the buses and heavy traffic is what they are referring to; it does create more stress on these structures and so we are trying to mitigate it to a point where nobody gets hurt. But if you are looking at the three bridges, priority number one is BelCan at this point in time, priority number two is Swing Bridge and we will deal with the BelChina with the resources that we have in house present.”

Minister Espat says that the Hawkesworth Bridge in the west is also being refurbished at this time.