Puente de la Unidad

Puente de la Unidad
Puente de la Unidad at night
Coordinates	25°40′05″N 100°22′49″W / 25.66806°N 100.38028°W / 25.66806; -100.38028Coordinates: 25°40′05″N 100°22′49″W / 25.66806°N 100.38028°W / 25.66806; -100.38028
Carries	vehicles
Crosses	Santa Catarina River[1]
Locale	Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico[1]
Characteristics
Design	Cable-stayed bridge, inclined pylon, asymmetric, semi-fan arrangement
Material	concrete (pylon)[1]
Total length	304 metres (997 ft)[1]
Width	28 to 35 metres (92 to 115 ft)[1]
Height	134 metres (440 ft) (pylon)[1]
Longest span	185 metres (607 ft)[1]
History
Designer	Daniel Tassin[1]
Constructed by	Grupo Garza Ponce

Puente de la Unidad or Viaducto de la Unidad is a cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge designed by Óscar Bulnes that crosses the Santa Catarina River and connects the cities of Monterrey and San Pedro Garza García in the Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is part of a circuit called "Circuito La Unidad", which would consist of the interconnection of a series of Avenues.

History

The bridge was finished in 2003 and has been controversial even before its completion because the river it crosses is dry almost all year long.

Although a huge part of the cost of this bridge was done by the business class from Monterrey, they were aware that the Santa Catarina River is affected by overflowing water from saturated rain caused by hurricanes. The San Pedro neighborhood is very well connected to the Colinas San Jerónimo and Valle Sol vicinity using this bridge.

Last 2010 Alex Hurricane burst millions of metric tons of water. The water carried the garbage on its path, damaging almost every structure of the previously dry river.

This method of construction respects the natural pathway of the dry river at demanding intervals.

See also

• Puente de la Mujer, Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Samuel Beckett Bridge, Dublin, Ireland
• Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay, California, United States
• Puente del Alamillo, Seville, Spain
• Assut de l'Or Bridge, Valencia, Spain

More photos

• 
  Puente atirantado, as it is called by the locals, at night, during September festivities adorned with the colors of the Mexican flag.
• 
  Photo taken from underneath one of the bridge's cables.
• 
  The interior of the tower that holds the cables.
• 
  The bridge seen from one of its ends (photo taken from Avenue Humberto Lobo in the San Pedro Garza García side).
• 
  Shot of the northern side the lanes elevate to the Cerro de las Mitras, crossing over to the neighborhoods of San Jerónimo and Cumbres.
• 
  The photo shows in the background La Huasteca National Park.
• 
  Puente Atirantado seen from its lanes. In the background, Cerro de Chipinque can be seen on top of the Sierra Madre Oriental
• 
  Viaducto de la Unidad, Monterrey

References