BATSUB Installs New Bridge in Lord’s Bank Village

Today, in the village of Lord’s Bank, the British Army Training Support Unit, BATSUB, officially inaugurated a bridge in the community that provides access to the Belize River. The project which is valued at twelve thousand U.S. dollars saw a troop of engineers who recently arrived in the country demolish an unserviceable small bridge in the Lord’s Bank area and replaced it with a new one. This afternoon, a brief handing over ceremony was held. The initiative is part of BATSUB and the B.D.F.’s joint community projects.

James Stein

Major James Stein, Quadrant Commandant

“The existing bridge was pretty derelict and you couldn’t transit on foot or on vehicle. So we knew that the B.D.F. and BATSUB as well as the local community want to get access to the river on the other side. From a military perspective, you can get for amphibious training and also for the local community just to get access onto the river. So this is a perfect example and opportunity for us to build a non-equipment bridge. So typically, we would use equipment bridging so dropping off the front of a tank or one that already comes preloaded in sections such as an M.G.B., medium girder bridge. We don’t regularly get to practice designing our own bridge and putting it in. So this was a fantastic opportunity to benefit us as a construction force, BATSUB, the B.D.F. and the local community. This took us eight days to strip it out and then put it in. It took slightly longer because when we stripped out the bridge the concrete abutments had perished because it had been here for around thirty-five years. So we then built the formwork, poured some concrete; that had to cure for a couple of days over the weekend and then we could lay down the foundations, put in the beams and then the wearing surface over the top.”

Duane Moody

“The cost of the project?”

Major James Stein

“That cost six thousand pounds sterling, so around twelve thousand U.S. dollars to put that in.”