CULIACAN, Mexico –
Source LA Herald Tribune
President Felipe Calderon received a Guinness record certifying a world’s highest bridge. The honor was bestowed on by a bridge of 152 steel suspenders.with a span of 520 meters (1,705 feet), a total length of 1,124 meters (3,685 feet) and a width of 19.8 meters (65 feet).
Built at a world-record structural height of 403.4 meters (1,320 feet), its four lanes extend over a jagged stretch of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range known as the Devil’s Backbone, which links Durango and the neighboring coastal state of Sinaloa.
The bridge is part of the Durango-Mazatlan highway, built at a cost of more than 20 billion pesos ($1.46 billion) and the most significant road project during Calderon’s six-year term, which began in December 2006, the transportation ministry said in a statement .
The Baluarte Bicentennia Bridge will have a price tag of 2.18 billion pesos ($158.7 million). The span is nearly 86 percent complete and is scheduled to be finished by the end of January.
Calderon supervised the bridge Thursday along with the governors of Sinaloa and Durango and said that it will provide an economic boost to both states.“With developments in infrastructure, we’ll continue to achieve the targets established during my term,” the president said.
Puente Baluarte
