Zárate-Brazo Largo Bridge, Road-rail bridge in Entre Ríos, Argentina
The Zárate-Brazo Largo Bridge consists of two cable-stayed bridges about 30 km apart, the Bartolomé Mitre over the Paraná de las Palmas and the Justo José de Urquiza over the Paraná Guazú. Each bridge has a 330 m main span and 110 m side spans, with light-colored pylons rising 122 m above the riverbed and red caps at their tops. The deck carries road and rail traffic.
The complex opened in December 1977 and received its formal name Complejo Unión Nacional in 1995. In November 1996, a broken cable anchor prompted emergency repairs and temporary traffic limits for both rail and road users.
The two spans carry the names of Bartolomé Mitre, a former Argentine president, and Justo José de Urquiza, the country's first constitutional president. The complex was declared a national historic interest site in 2008, and its official name became Complejo Unión Nacional in 1995, though the old name persists in everyday use.
The structure carries both National Route 12 and the General Urquiza Railway tracks across the Paraná branches. Pedestrians are not permitted on the roadway, but viewing areas along the riverbanks offer close perspectives of the spans.
The complex uses cable-stayed design with tall concrete pylons, a technique still relatively uncommon in South America during the 1970s. Because of the width of the river branches, engineers built two separate spans, each with its own foundation system.
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