Mexico's Bridges: Puente Juarez

Returning to Colima, I took Route 56 southwest, back towards Manzanillo. I soon crossed the ubiquitous Rio Armeria (near the town of Coquimatlan) on the Puente Juarez, a seven span I-girder bridge on reinforced concrete pierwalls and odd, two-column abutments.

This bridge has a handsome plaque giving relevant bridge data. It is 251 m (824 ft) long with a 7.5 m (24.6 ft) wide traveled way and a 9.1 m (30 ft) wide deck. This is a very green, fertile area with many orchards. Note the tall palm trees at the other end of the bridge.

Unfortunately we've too often seen the end of the concrete barrier damaged from drivers smashing into it. Steel rails or crash cushions at the ends of bridges might save some lives.

I like the flared elements connecting the girder webs to the deck, which give the bridge a modern appearance. The Rio Armeria must have a tendency to flood. The plaque gives the volume of water that can pass under the bridge. The rounded ends to the pierwalls can deflect debris downstream instead of collecting against the bridge and possibly causing scour or bridge damage.

Mexico's Bridges: Puente Juarez by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Mexico's Bridges: Nuevo Puente Armeria (2)

Another view of the New Armeria Bridge. Maybe bridge owners should avoid calling their bridges 'new,' since they so rapidly become old. However, this bridge appears to still be in pretty good shape.

I see some cables near the bottom flange. Perhaps it was strengthened with prestressed tendons to carry heavier trucks. This was popular in California twenty years ago as a way to allow permit vehicles onto more roads. However, it may have been wiser to keep heavy vehicles off most roads since they tear up the pavement so quickly.

I also see some cables hanging from the barrier rail, but those look like electrical wiring, maybe to power a nearby ranch.

The wingwalls stick straight out from the sides of the stemwall because the bridge is in a small canyon that was carved by the river. There are concrete corbels under the steel girders. Perhaps they are used as jacking platforms for the girders in case the bearings need to be replaced.

Mexico's Bridges: Nuevo Puente Armeria (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Mexico's Bridges: Nuevo Puente Armeria (1)

North of the Armeria Highway Bridge and the Armeria Railway Bridge is the New Armeria Bridge. It carries Route 110 from Ciudad de Armeria northward to Cofradia de Juarez before returning to Route 200 at the Colima Armeria Overcrossing.

Nuevo Puente Armeria is a four span steel girder bridge on single column bents and seat-type abutments. As can be seen on the placard, the bridge was completed in 1963 at a cost of 3.3 million Mexican Pesos.

Placards are mounted on important bridges. Not only do they provide basic information about the bridge, but also some information about the government that financed the bridge construction.

Note that the end of the concrete bridge barrier had been struck by oncoming vehicles. Because such accidents can cause terrible injuries, guardrails should be mounted at the approaches to bridges to deflect drivers away from the ends of concrete barriers.

Mexico's Bridges: Nuevo Puente Armeria (1) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Mexico's Bridges: Antiguo Puente Ferroviario de Armeria

Just upstream from the highway bridge we studied yesterday is an old railroad bridge. It is a six span through truss bridge with five short Pratt trusses and a longer Parker truss over the Armeria River. The superstructure is supported on hexagonal-shaped masonry pier walls. The abutments include long wingwalls.

There was a truck on the embankment (and a couple of workers on the bridge) when I took this photo, but I didn't have a chance to go and see if the bridge was damaged by the earthquake. Since the bridge is close to the epicenter, I would imagine the trusses sit on tall bearings that might have gotten damaged or fallen over.

Mexico's Bridges: Antiguo Puente Ferroviario de Armeria by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.