Centennial Bridge, Panama
Panama's Centennial Bridge (Puente Centenario) is a major bridge crossing the Panama Canal, and hence connecting North and South America. It was opened on 15 August, 2004 to supplement the overcrowded Bridge of the Americas, and to replace it as the carrier of the Pan-American Highway.
Description
The Centennial Bridge of Panama is only the second major road crossing of the Panama Canal, the first being the Bridge of the Americas. (Small service bridges are built in to the lock structures at Miraflores and Gatún Locks, but these bridges are only usable when the lock gates are closed, and have limited capacity.)
The Centennial Bridge is located 15km (9 miles) north of the Bridge of the Americas, and crosses the Gaillard Cut close to the Pedro Miguel locks.
History
The Bridge of the Americas, which opened in 1962, was the only major road crossing of the Panama Canal. The traffic over this bridge was originally around 9,500 vehicles per day; however, this expanded over time, and by 2004 the bridge was carrying 35,000 vehicles per day.
Since the bridge represented a major bottleneck in the Pan-American Highway, Panama's Ministry of Public Works requested tenders for a second canal crossing in October 2000. The contract to build a replacement bridge was awarded in March 2002. An ambitious schedule of just 29 months was set for construction, in order that the bridge could open on the 90th anniversary of the first ship transit of the Panama Canal by the cargo ship Ancon, on 15 August, 1914. The bridge was named for Panama's centennial, which occurred on November 3, 2003.
Construction
The bridge is a cable-stayed design with a total span of 1,052 m (3,451 ft). The main span is 320 m (1,050 ft), and clears the canal by 80 m (262 ft), allowing large vessels to pass below it. The bridge is supported by two towers, each 184 m (604 ft) high. The deck carries six lanes of traffic across the canal.
The bridge is designed to withstand the earthquakes which are frequently recorded in the canal area.
The bridge opened on schedule on 15 August, 2004.