Peru's Bridges: Puente Rio Chili

Its always interesting to study a new bridge. The Puente Rio Chili in Arequipa is a single span reinforced concrete box girder bridge with end-diaphragm abutments; basically a rigid frame. Note how the far abutment is only half covered in cobbles and has no wingwalls (it looks like they are about to be built) while the closer abutment is covered in sand and gravel with wingwalls extending along it's sides. Probably they were just completing the far abutment. There's a notch in the deck/backwall of the near abutment for an approach slab or roadway.

The bridge is about 200 ft long and 60 ft wide; a four lane bridge with a short median barrier cast in the middle and steel guardrails along the deck overhangs. Even at $50 per square foot, this bridge would have cost over half a million U. S. dollars. It looks like a modern highway bridge, but it doesn't connect to a major road or highway. There are just some farms and what looks like storage facilities on the other side of the river. It seems like a very expensive bridge just to be used by a farmer to bring his crops to market.

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

Peru's Bridges: Puente Bajo Grau (2)

Here is another view (looking to the south) of Puente Bajo Grau. The haunch looks much bigger on the right side of the bridge. I wonder if there's a moment connection on the west side and its free to move on the east side?

I guess I didn't take this photo since I'm standing with my earthquake buddy Bill Byers in the picture. Bill was the chief bridge engineer of the Burlington Northern Railroad for many years, he was quite active, and helped develop the seismic criteria for AREMA, the railway engineering manual.

Puente Bajo Grau crosses the Rio Chili at a large skew as the road goes to the northwest and forms a triangle with La Marina Blvd and Ejercito Avenue (see Google Earth Map below).

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

Peru's Bridges: Puente Bajo Grau (1)

I'm standing on La Marina Blvd. looking north at Puente Bajo Grau, Puente Miguel Grau, and the Nevado Chachani Volcano. The statue of Miguel Grau can be seen just above Puente Bajo Grau's west abutment.

Puente Bajo Grau is another single span, reinforced concrete, haunched girder bridge. It's also another bridge with a water main along the exterior girder. The bridge has end diaphragm abutments, short wingwalls, and steel rails.

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

Peru's Bridges: Puente San Martin

Between Puente Bolivar and Puente Quinones is Puente San Martin. I decided to show this bridge, not because it is particularly interesting, but because two of the volcanoes that surround Arequipa are in the photo.

On the right is Volcan Misti with a conical shape as fine as Mt. Fuji. On the left is the Nevado Chachani Volcano with a complicated structure that includes several domes. Both volcanoes are about 6000 meters tall. Neither have erupted in a long time, but both are considered active.

San Martin is a single span, reinforced concrete, haunched girder bridge carrying two lanes of traffic. If you look closely, you can see a water main being carried along the exterior girder, which ruins the appearance of the haunched girder.

Jose de San Martin was an Argentine general who helped liberate (along with Simon Bolivar) South America from Spain. San Martin Road goes east from Freedom of Expression Park (Parque Libertad de Expresion) across the Rio Chili, across La Marina Blvd, around Martinez Circle (Ovalo Martinez), to the Southern Institute (Instituto del Sur). Arequipa is called the 'White City' because of all the white rock that has been quarried from the surrounding mountains for churches and government buildings.

The Rio Chili is crossed by a variety of interesting bridges from it's source in the Cordillera Occidental Mountain Range until it empties into the Pacific at the Valle de Quilca. Unfortunately, I've only photographed a few bridges in the city. Perhaps one day, I can make a survey of all the interesting bridges in Peru or at least, all the bridges that cross the Rio Chili.

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

Peru's Bridges: Puente Quinones and Puente Consuelo (2)

A look at the west abutment and west retaining walls for Puente Quinones and Puente Consuelo (along the Rio Chili). Note how this structure is much more detailed than most bridges or even buildings. The retaining wall is locked into the rock like a dam and has folds and ridges that must have taken a lot of work to form.

A pedestrian overcrossing (POC) was built over Abelardo Quinones Street. The retaining walls reach up to support the blue, open, four sided structure.

I guess I find this bridge to be overly elaborate. I prefer the structural simplicity of Puente Bolivar. Still, it's an interesting experiment, and better than a lot of unimaginatively-designed bridges.

Peru's Bridges: Puente Quinones and Puentes Consuelo (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Peru's Bridges: Puente Quinones and Puente Consuelo (1)

After spending a week looking at older bridges, we'll look at a few newer bridges before leaving Arequipa.

Puente Quinones and Puente Consuelo are a  pair of bridges that connect Abelardo Quinones to Consuelo Streets across the Rio Chili with ramps on and off La Marina Blvd.

The bridges were being completed when I took this photo. It's interesting how highly contoured the soffit is on these bridges. In this photo (looking south at La Marina Blvd) instead of a typical column flare, the soffit dips to take the shape of the column. The bridges remind me of sculptures by Naum Gabo. Just another sign of Arequipa's affinity for all things modern.

I'm surprised by the low vertical clearance of these bridges. I would imagine they would be hit by trucks carrying equipment, unless the city has an effective way of screening traffic onto La Marina Blvd.

Peru's Bridges: Puente Quinones and Puente Consuelo (1) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.