Pedestrian Footbridge Implementation and Culvert Bridge Rehabilitation

Vital Stats

Jennifer H

Durham, NC

  • people helped250
  • People Doing It 35

The Problem

Every year from June to November, the San Antonio River rises up to two meters, completely submerging the existing shallow culvert bridge and isolating the residents of three farming villages for days at a time. When the crossing is flooded, children from the 50 families of El Guayabo, El Porvenir, and Tula cannot cross the river to reach school. Their parents are unable to access a nearby city center and the adjacent Panamerican Highway and cannot sell their produce, purchase food and supplies, or access emergency medical care. Three years ago, a sick villager died trying to cross the bridge to get to a health clinic. There are an additional thirty-five families in Guadalupe who own crops in Tula and cannot cross the river to tend to them when the river is flooded. A Duke civil engineering student became aware of this problem during a visit to El Salvador in 2010 and brought it back to Duke.

Plan of Action

A group of Duke students is traveling to El Salvador this summer to build a pedestrian footbridge to provide a safe crossing by foot year-round. The team will also work to rehabilitate the existing culvert bridge, which is frequently submerged in two meters of water and is impassable to both pedestrian and vehicular traffic for much of the rainy season. If the culvert bridge is left in its current state of disrepair, it will be completely washed away within the next two years. This would be a severe blow to farmers who depend on vans and small trucks to transport their goods across the river during the infrequent periods of low flow. The Duke team worked with El Salvador-based NGO Epilogos to conduct the site assessment for this project in the fall of 2010. Epilogos staff have been living and working in San Jose Villanueva, El Salvador for 10 years have extensive knowledge about the community and its needs. The team’s second community partner is Bridges to Prosperity (B2P). B2P, who has built bridges in over seventeen different countries, collaborated on the design of the bridge and will provide assistance during construction. With help from these two NGOs as well as with assistance from community members, our team will be able to successfully complete our project and solve this serious issue in the San Jose Villanueva area.
Go
Disaster Preparedness
Disasters

Related Stuff