Bridge_Project


 * INTRODUCTION **

 **Bridges** are one of the oldest structures because they connect portions of lands over a river, an ocean, a canyon, a valley, a road, or maybe a railway. They have arisen through the need of people of moving from one place to another, so men used their resources and their instincts and created structures that allowed the connection in an easy way. There is a variety of materials used to make bridges. Some of they are made with metals, others with concrete, bricks, wood. It basicly depends of the use and the traffic the bridge will have to hold up. The bridges are important for social and political of a place because provide connectivity to the city.  Allow people to move from a point to another, and not only people; through them also the goods can be transported.  There are several types of them, depending on land needs, but there exist four major bridges: **The beam bridge: **  It is a simple structure which consists in a rigid beam, and loads are dissipated through commonly vertical supports. In small beam bridges is common the use of wood, in other cases when beam bridges are longer, steel and stone are used, because this kind of bridge needs more resistance. **The arch bridge: **  It consists in a bridge with semi circular shape, which is made of blocks cut to fit perfectly. This type of bridge resists heavy loads because the keystone, get vertical loads and then are distributed horizontally to the other elements of arch bridges. The marials used fort these bridges are stone, iron, steel and concrete. **The suspension bridge: ** It Consists in a deck suspended by cables to avoid a river or any obstacle. As an improvement for this kind of bridge, there was the implementation of towers which support the loads of the hanging cables, so this helped to make possible to quarry the heavy loads. For suspension bridges steel cables are commonly used. **Cable-stayed bridge: **  Its mechanism is basically the tension of the cables. They’re made of steel rope, post-tensioned concrete box girders, steel or concrete pylons. Any number of towers may be used and the tension on the cables must be transferred to the earth by the anchorages. 

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> Name of bridge: General Rafael Urdaneta <span style="color: green; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Location: Maracaibo, Zulia, Venezuela. <span style="color: green; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge or bridge over the lake, as it is called locally, crosses the narrowest part of Lake Maracaibo in Zulia state, northwestern Venezuela and connects the city of Maracaibo with the rest of the country. Was inaugurated by President Romulo Betancourt, on August 24, 1962, after four years of construction. <span style="color: green; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It is made of reinforced and prestressed concrete and it’s a mixture of an Arch bridge and a Bascule bridge.

<span style="color: green; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The Bridge has 135 sections, two of 235 meters. Its height is 45 meters, which allows under him, to navigatethe huge oil tankers entering and leaving the lake. <span style="color: green; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Designed by the engineer Ricardo Morandi and subsequently amended by the Maracaibo Bridge Consortium "CPM.” <span style="color: green; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">One of the main advantages is that the bridge is sufficiently high to cross the boats. <span style="color: green; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In April 1964, parts of the bridge collapsed after a collision with the tanker Esso Maracaibo causing the deaths of seven people.

<span style="color: green; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In conclusion maracaibo bridge is the bridge most important of the country and represents a vital element in the trade and circulation of Zulia state.