Chilean Bridges: El Puente Ferroviario de Longaví

Continuing our tour of railroad bridges in Chile, we come to another Warren truss that had some damage during last month's earthquake. This photo was taken in the early morning and so the bridge is shrouded in fog. Although you cannot tell, this bridge is back on the east side of the Pan American Highway (Route 5). I don't really understand why, but the railroad moves back and forth under Route 5 many times between Concepcion and Santiago.

I am wondering whether the span falling is related to lateral spreading of the river bank (on the far right side of the photo). You can see that the truss has moved to the north, pushing the next span off of it's support. However, it could just as well have been caused by ground shaking. Also, it's hard to tell, but the pier just north of the dropped truss looks like the legs have moved apart. Since I don't see a cap at the top of the columns, I think it's possible. One thing is for sure, the depth of the truss stopped the span from falling to the ground. It looks like it got wedged against the adjacent protruding truss. If this had been a girder bridge, it would have fallen as soon as it was pushed off the pier.

Chilean Bridges: El Puente Ferroviario de Longaví by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Chilean Bridges: Viaducto del Malleco

The Malleco Viaduct was the tallest railroad bridge in Chile when it opened in 1890. It runs parallel to the PanAmerican Highway (Route 5) in South-Central Chile. Apparently Gustave Eiffel made a proposal to design the bridge, but his proposal was rejected and the design went to Aurilio Lasterria.  It's an interesting lattice truss with fillets connecting the superstructure to the towers.

The railroad runs parallel to the highway for much of the length of Chile. Note that the train is powered by a cable suspended above the tracks. It would seem that the railroad would be an ideal transportation solution for a long, skinny country like Chile, but it is barely used (similar to the US). After the earthquake, the railroad was utilized to remove building debris.

Chilean Bridges: Viaduct Malleco by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.