6 days ago
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The planned replacement of the Belcan Bridge was among the major infrastructure projects discussed during last night’s Belize City Council town hall meeting held at the Civic Center.
City residents were updated on several upcoming works that will affect traffic in the downtown area, including the replacement of the Belcan Bridge, which crosses the Haulover Creek and connects key sections of the city. According to the country’s Chief Engineer, the Belcan Bridge has been identified as one of the most deteriorated structures along the Haulover Creek, making its replacement a priority as government and city officials move forward with broader infrastructure improvements in Belize City. The engineer explained that the works will coincide with other major projects in the area, including planned upgrades around the Swing Bridge, which means residents should prepare for some temporary inconveniences and traffic diversions while construction is underway. Despite the expected disruptions, officials say the project is necessary to ensure the safety and long-term reliability of one of the city’s critical transport links. Chief Engineer Moody noted that once the Belcan Bridge is dismantled, a temporary bridge will be installed to maintain traffic flow while the new structure is being constructed.
Evondale Moody, Chief Engineer: “So we thought it was important for us to continue with the implementation of this project. Yes we had an opportunity to start it early but we had some delays and so the Swing Bridge has caught up in terms of the implementation timeline with Belcan but because of the significant deterioration of that structure we thought it was important for us to implement both structures at the same time rather than putting the residents at risk. In terms of the Belcan Bridge, bids were submitted on the 4th of March. We went through an evaluation by our consultants and that evaluation report was submitted to the Caribbean Development Bank for their no objection. We received that no objection from the bank last week, given the go ahead for us to make an award to the successful contractor. The idea is to try and meet the timeline of the 27th of March for us to sign a contract for that project. In terms of the construction of the temporary bridge, the idea is that we want to see how best we could get the contractor to complete or to start that structure at least by the 10th of April and thereafter we want to proceed with the with the demolition of the of the existing structure. Similarly to the Swing Bridge the idea is that we want to see how best we could get the contractor to finish the construction of the temporary bridge within four months and thereafter move to the demolition of the old structure within that timeline that we have indicated. The Belcan Bridge, basically we want to see if we could start those construction by the 15th of November of this year and then that will take us up to 2028 for us to complete that structure. With that said, the idea is that we want to see if we could also build the temporary crossing to go across from Evergreen Street, which is behind BWS, and then that will carry traffic from south side to north side, making a landing just behind Save U and then entering into the Philip Goldson Highway from there. The typical cross section for the Belcan is also approximately 19 meters whereby that would be able to carry two lanes of traffic with a section for pedestrians and also bicycle. So that’s a typical section of the type of structure that will be constructed for Belcan. However this one as you can see it’s using concrete girders rather than steel girders because we have sufficient clearance for Belcan.”
English (US) ·