Baluarte Bridge, Cable-stayed bridge in Concordia, Mexico
The Baluarte Bridge is a cable-stayed structure spanning 3,684 feet (1,124 meters) across the Baluarte River gorge, with a main span of 1,706 feet (520 meters) and standing 1,322 feet (403 meters) above the valley floor, making it the highest cable-stayed bridge in the Americas.
Construction began on February 21, 2008, and the bridge was inaugurated on January 5, 2012, with traffic opening in late 2013, replacing a dangerous mountain road from the 1940s that required mules to transport construction supplies through remote terrain.
The official name Puente Baluarte Bicentenario commemorates the 2010 bicentenary of Mexico's independence declaration, and the structure received Guinness World Records certification as the world's highest cable-stayed bridge, becoming a symbol of Mexican engineering achievement and national progress.
The bridge carries four lanes of traffic along the Durango-Mazatlán highway, reducing travel time between the two cities from approximately eight hours to about two and a half hours, with an expected daily traffic volume of around 2,000 vehicles.
The construction involved over 1,500 workers using 12,000 tons (10,900 metric tons) of steel and 90,000 cubic meters of concrete, with the tallest pylon reaching 554 feet (169 meters) and 76 steel cables arranged in a semi-fan pattern supporting the roadway from towers on either side of the deep canyon.
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