Guess What: Platina Bridge Surface Failing

Like one of those boring standing jokes on a TV sitcom series, the "platina" bridge over the Virilla River has popped up in the news again. The repair didn't hold... What else is new?



The bridge surface has become, A) a longtime standing joke of Costa Rican engineering and, B) has raised doubts that the Ministry of Public Works (MOPT) can get anything right and, C) seems to confirm that MOPT suffers from Attention Deficiency Disorder.

Engineers at the University of Costa Rica engineering laboratory note "an alarming" deterioration of the troublesome bridge plates since February. The lab has been paying attention to the bridge between January and March.

It would seem that MOPT has not. The lab report says clearly that the bridge surface has suffered "a sustained increase in deterioration of the plates that represent critical recurrent damage."

As if that were not clear enough, the report adds "one can foresee that the bridge plates will suffer very severe deterioration in a short time, which may place the safety of motorists in peril as well as the functionality of Route 1--the General Cañas highway." (See previous articles.)

Since this is one of the chief routes in the country, the report pulls no punches, suggesting that MOPT has used "trial and error" methods to repair the bridge, generating constant expenses and a waste of public money.

Loyal readers of this blog can well believe it. In February of 2011, the bridge was repaired, using steel rods like those in reinforced concrete instead of asphalt. To make the structure lighter, they made it more flexible.

Like so many Costa Rican solutions, it seemed like a good idea at the time. But the increased vibration of heavy traffic rolling over the surface quickly weakened it. The lab is urging MOPT to cure the problem.

MOPT agreed with the engineers--since last January. But present MOPT chief Luis Lach, who took over only at the beginning of the month, said he received the report only June 14 and is awaiting analysis by bridge expert Carlos Fernandez before coming up with a "plan of action."

Since the new structure was installed, several attempts have been made to repair the bridge surface, efforts that highway expert Roy Barrantes characterizes as "cosmetic."

"They can install any type of surface they want, but it will fail eventually," reports Barrantes drily, "You have to make an urgent structural intervention." Meanwhile, 80,000 vehicles passing over it daily pounds it to pieces.

It doesn't matter what hour of the day, the punishment continues. "In peak traffic hours, the weight is more important because vehicles pass over slower," says the expert, "In non-peak hours, traffic passes rapidly and this causes the bridge to vibrate a lot."

It appears that, at any rate, the remedy of the bridge will have to await the negotiation on the San Ramon highway project. An interview with the national paper La Nacion revealed little, only that Lach is still getting settled into his job and will set no deadline on the Virilla brdge repair.

It appears that the only ones who have gained from the whole exercise are local humorists who have considered the bridge a complete comedy -- when they haven't been making fun of the border road mess.

By Rod Hughes, Fijatevos.com