Huasco Bridge | |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 28°34′5″S70°47′0″W / 28.56806°S 70.78333°W |
| Crosses | Huasco River |
| Locale | Vallenar |
| Official name | Puente Huasco |
| History | |
| Opened | 1977 |
| Location | |
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The Huasco Bridge (Spanish: Puente Huasco) is a bridge located in Vallenar, Chile, that crosses the Huasco River. The bridge is part of the Chile Route 5 and the Pan-American Highway. The planning of the bridge begun in 1964 when at a central level it was found that the newly established Chile Route 5 from Arica to Puerto Montt had a bottleneck in Vallenar. [1] Construction begun in 1965. [1] The bridge is notorious for its sudden collapse on May 9, 1967, when it was still under construction. The collapse killed 7 workers on the bridge and injured 10 to 20 more people, one of whom later died as result of his wounds. [2] [1] The dead workers were from Chamonate, Osorno and Ovalle. The causes of collapse remain unknown, [2] but at the time of the collapse the constructing firm, Yaconi Hermanos, was using a building technique that was novel in Chile. Prior to the collapse workers had noted that the scaffold was unstable. [3]
The bridge begun to be rebuilt in 1972 and opened to transit in 1977. [2]
