Paraguay awards construction of third border bridge with Brazil

By MOPC
This is a machine translation of the original press release published in Spanish.
A few days after the 89th anniversary of Boquerón’s victory, the Paraguayan Chaco once again makes history with the presentation of a work that will mark the start of a new era for the country and all this part of the continent.
By resolution n ° 2001/21, the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC) awarded the construction of the biooceanic bridge to the binational PY-BRA Consortium, made up of the companies Tecnoedil Constructora SA, Cidade LTDA and Paulitec Construções
The winning bid is G 616 836 755 744, which is 8% less than the estimated amount of the call.
This structure is considered to be the main link in the entire bio-oceanic road corridor, the first 277 km section of which is already well advanced to reach the towns of Carmelo Peralta (Alto Paraguay) and Loma Plata (Boquerón).
Also known as the Biooceanic Route, when completed in its entirety, it will cross the entire Paraguayan Chaco from east to west, joining the border towns of Brazil (Carmelo Peralta-Puerto Murtinho) and Argentina (Mission Pozo Hondo) -La Paz), shortening the journey to the most important seaports in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
Thanks to the bio-oceanic bridge and the new road corridor, the western region of the country will become a major international logistics center, generating 2,500 jobs and endless opportunities for all Chaco residents.
JOB DESCRIPTION
According to the general conditions of invitation to tender (PBC), this new international bridge will have a total length of 1,300 m with the following characteristics:
Layout of the plan: Rectilinear layout orthogonally crossing the Paraguay River in its narrowest section. For the average level of the river bed, it is 300 m wide. To facilitate construction, the axes of the bracing piers were spaced 350 m between their axes, so that the execution of the foundations does not require river resources.
Elevation plan: The elevation plan of the bridge is marked by the need to provide a navigation gauge 29 m high above the level of the Paraguay River (Z = + 81.95 m) for a return period 100 years old. This navigation template is planned in a width of 195 m, centered on the bed of the river, and coinciding with the navigation channel. With this width, the simultaneous transit under the bridge of two convoys with pusher, 65m wide per convoy, is authorized. The elevation line is defined by two 4% ramps and a circular vertical tuning with a radius of 3300 m. With these parameters, a design speed of 80km / h is authorized and the transit of heavy goods vehicles, which will be the most important, is facilitated.
Cross section: The cross section of the bridge and its access viaducts provides a platform with a 3.6 m wide track in each direction of movement, 3.0 m wide side shoulders, reserves for a 60 cm wide vehicle collision barrier, sidewalks with a useful width of 1.70 m in the guyed section and 2.5 m in the access viaducts, to finally house the supports for the anti-intrusion / anti-intrusion barriers -suicide in 35cm. In total, the total width of the section reaches 20.1 m. Transversely, a slope of 2% is planned from the axis of the bridge to the sides to facilitate drainage of the road.
VIADUCT ACCESS
The bridge is divided into three sections, consisting of two access viaducts, one on the Paraguayan bank of the river and the other on the Brazilian bank, and in the middle of the two, the cable-stayed section, which will be solemnly erected on the territory, but always in a deep respect, without fanfare, within the framework of El Chaco, an austere and beautiful territory at the same time, where nothing is lacking, but there is also no excess.
The access viaduct on the Paraguayan side has a length of 304 m, composed of 10 spans with a span of 30 m; while on the Brazilian side 12 spans are necessary, ie a length of 365m. With these lengths of viaduct, one obtains backfill heights in the abutments of the bridge of 13.5 m, which is the maximum height of the backfill to guarantee its stability and, also, to respect the occupation band of the plan of 100 m. wide, including the service roads at the foot of the embankment.
Between the viaducts, as already mentioned, there is the cable-stayed section, 630 m long, with a main span of 350 m and two retention spans of 140 m each.
Thus, the structure will reach a total length of 1,300 m, crossing the bed of the Paraguay River and connecting it to the embankments of the accesses.
It should be noted that the commissioning of this bridge will directly benefit 19,000 compatriots and will contribute to the socio-economic growth of the entire Paraguayan Chaco because it will become the articulator of all international transits of goods between the two oceans.
CONTEXT
The call for tenders for this emblematic structure was approved in mid-February by the Paraguay-Brazil Joint Commission.
The whole process is the result of an international agreement signed between the governments of Paraguay and Brazil on June 8, 2016, so that today another important step in the realization of this project is consolidated.
Let us recall that through a joint declaration of December 21, 2018, the presidents of Paraguay, Mario Abdo BenÃtez, and of Brazil at the time, Michel Temer, accepted the construction of two international bridges entirely financed by Itaipú Binacional. This declaration was ratified by the administration of current Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
One of them is the Integration Bridge, between Presidente Franco and Foz de Yguazú, over the Paraná River; and the other, the one that will link Carmelo Peralta to Puerto Murtinho, on the Paraguay River.
This new physical connection is part of the transcendent continental project for the construction of the Biooceanic Corridor of Rodoviario, and its executing entity, in Paraguay, is the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC).
Through the union between the ports of the Pacific and the Atlantic, through the Paraguayan Chaco, the governments of Paraguay and Brazil, through the ITAIPU, aim for a greater productive and economic integration of the region.
The price resolution can be viewed here.