Why is there no bridge over the Amazon River?
The Amazon is the world’s second longest river and one of the most important waterways on the planet. It contains more freshwater than any other river, is home to the world’s largest river dolphin, and is also home to 100 species of electric fish and 60 species of piranha.
However, while there is a lot of quality and variety that comes with it, there is one thing that cannot be found on the Amazon River: bridges.
Flowing through the three countries of Peru, Colombia and Brazil with more than 30 million people living in its basin, why is there no bridge across it? Difficulty building such structures in a rainforest? Vast areas of wetlands and swamps? Or financial barriers? Let’s find out below.
Amazon’s Abnormalities
When compared to some other famous rivers in the world, it is strange that the Amazon does not have a bridge over it. In Cairo alone, there are about 9 bridges spanning the longest Nile in the world; more than 100 bridges have been completed in the last 30 years over the Yangtze, Asia’s leading river; while the Danube River is the second longest in Europe, even though it is only 1/3 as long as the Amazon River, there are also 133 bridges crossing.
So what is the problem of the Amazon River?
Walter Kaufmann, Chair of the Structural Engineering Department at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, shares the real reason: “There is no pressing need for a bridge across the Amazon.”
The Amazon, at most 6,920 kilometers in length, meanders through sparsely populated areas, meaning there are few major roads for any bridges to connect. And in cities and towns bordering rivers, boats and ferries are the established means of moving goods and people from shore to shore. Which means there’s really no need to build bridges, because that just makes the journeys a bit faster.
“Of course, there are also technical and logistical difficulties,” Mr. Kaufmann noted.
According to Kaufmann, the Amazon is not an ideal location for builders, as it has a series of natural obstacles that engineers and construction workers need to overcome.
Amazon River drainage basin map.
“The environment in the Amazon is definitely one of the harshest in the world.”Kaufmann said. “Bridges across the strait are also a challenge due to the depth of the water, but at least you know that construction can use solutions like pontoon bridges.”
But pontoon bridges, or floating structures, are not a workable solution in most parts of the Amazon, because the river is heavily influenced by seasonal factors, and this increases add complexity to things. For example, during the dry season – from June to November – the Amazon River has an average width of 3.2 to 9.7 km, while in the rainy season – from December to April – the river can be up to 48 km wide. kilometer. And the water level can be higher than 15 meters between the rainy and dry seasons.
So the lack of an urgent need for a bridge across the Amazon River, and the processes involved in building a very expensive bridge, are the main answer to this question.
Tourist boats cross the Amazon River near Manaus, Brazil.
Will Amazon have a bridge in the future?
It is worth noting that, although there is no bridge across the Amazon, there is a bridge over the Negro River, its main tributary. Called Ponte Rio Negro, the bridge was completed in 2011, connecting the cities of Manaus and Iranduba. And to this day, it remains the only main bridge across a tributary of the Amazon.
However, while there are no concrete plans for a bridge over the Amazon at present, this does not mean it will not happen in the future, according to Philip Fearnside, a biologist and scientist American scientist and conservationist. He is someone who has spent most of his career in Brazil.
In 2019, Jair Bolsonaro, the president of Brazil, announced that he wanted a bridge to be built on the Amazon River as part of the “Rio Branco Project”, but so far nothing has progressed. .
According to Fearnside, the bridge will “very expensive compared to the economic benefits it will bring”.
Following the completion of the Ponte Rio Negro, interim plans were put in place for a bridge across the upper Amazon region – known as the Solimões River – in the city of Manacapuru, which would connect the BR-319 highway with the city. Manaus Street and eliminated the need for people to take the ferry.
“The BR-319 highway is a high political priority, but it makes no economic sense”Fearnside said. “It will be cheaper to ship products from factories in the Manaus Free Trade Zone to São Paulo by water.”
In addition, according to Fearnside, creating such a bridge would “allows deforestation for about half of what’s left of the Amazon” and that would pose problems for the conservation of this tropical jungle.
“I think a bridge will only be built if the need outweighs the difficulty and cost,” Mr. Kaufmann said. “I personally doubt that this will happen anytime soon, unless there are unforeseen economic developments in the region.”
Refer livescience
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