Bridges to Prosperity, El Bosque/Melara

El Bosque, El Salvador

Project Description

In 2009, Hurricane Ida destroyed several important vehicle and pedestrian bridges in the seaside municipality of La Libertad in El Salvador, one of the countries most important fishing and transport regions. Two different teams of volunteers from Flatiron and McNary Bergeron joined local residents to construct two different suspension pedestrian bridges to replace structures lost in the storm. The El Bosque bridge has a 48m span and the Melara bridge built several weeks later has a 58m span. Both superstructures were built above the high-water mark of Hurricane Ida.

Owner

Municipality of La Libertad, El Salvador

Contractor

Bridges to Prosperity, Flatiron, McNary Bergeron

Designer

McNary Bergeron

Our Role

McNary Bergeron (Phil Marsh and others) designed and detailed the La Libertad suspension bridges and traveled to El Salvador to assist in the construction of the superstructures. The bridges used details from the typical Bridges to Prosperity Suspension Bridge design that was developed with help from McNary Bergeron's Jeremy Johannesen.