Chile’s minister of public works Loreto Silva visited the region this week to meet with local officials and members of the community as well as representatives from the OAS, Hyundai, Systra and Aas-Jakobsen joint venture, which submitted the sole bid late last year.
The 2,379-day contract period began running this week and construction of the bridge is expected to begin in February 2015.
The joint venture now has to be registered as a Chilean company and the land transfer for the project is then due to take place in April. This will enable the company to carry out drilling and geotechnical studies, wind tunnel tests and seismic investigations to finalise the detailed engineering of the project.
The bridge will incorporate technology for structural health monitoring as well as traffic and fire warning systems, all managed from a control building on the south bank. The control building will also house a visitor centre and there will be walkways and viewpoints.
Project reports
20 Feb 14
Chacao Bridge contract begins
The project to build South America’s longest suspension bridge is now under way with the official signing of the design and construction contract for the crossing of the Chacao Channel.
The 2,750m-long Chacao Bridge will join the island of Chiloé to mainland Chile. The three-tower suspension bridge will have main spans over 1km in length. It is being built through a traditional design and procurement method, through the Department of Roads within the Ministry of Public Works.
