Baluarte Bridge
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Baluarte Bridge Puente Baluarte |
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Baluarte Bridge under construction,
10 March 2012 |
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| Coordinates | 23°32′03″N 105°45′46″W / 23.53417°N 105.76278°WCoordinates: 23°32′03″N 105°45′46″W / 23.53417°N 105.76278°W |
| Carries | Motor vehicles |
| Crosses | Baluarte River |
| Locale | Concordia in Sinaloa and Pueblo Nuevo in Durango, Mexico |
| Official name | Baluarte Bicentennial Bridge |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Cable-stayed bridge |
| Material | Prestressed concrete |
| Total length | 1,124 m (3,688 ft) |
| Width | 19.8 m (65 ft) |
| Longest span | 520 m (1,710 ft) |
| Clearance below | 403 m (1,322 ft) |
| History | |
| Construction begin | 21 February 2008 |
| Construction end | (inaugurated) 5 January 2012 |
| Opened | late 2013 |
 Baluarte Bridge
Location in Mexico
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The Baluarte Bridge (Spanish: Puente Baluarte), officially the Baluarte Bicentennial Bridge (Spanish: Puente Baluarte Bicentenario), is a cable-stayed bridge in Mexico. It is located between the municipalities of Concordia in Sinaloa and Pueblo Nuevo in Durango, along the Durango–Mazatlán highway, Mexico 40D. The bridge has a total length of 1,124 m (3,688 ft), with a central cable-stayed span of 520 m (1,710 ft). With the road deck at 403 m (1,322 ft) above the valley below, the Baluarte Bridge is the highest cable-stayed bridge in the world, the third-highest bridge overall and the highest bridge in the Americas.
Construction of the bridge began in 2008, it was inaugurated in January 2012 and opened to traffic in late 2013. The bridge forms part of a new highway linking the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of northern Mexico and has reduced the travelling time between Durango and Mazatlán from approximately 6 to 2.5 hours.
The bridge's four-lane roadway, 20 metres (66 ft) wide by 1,124 metres (3,688 ft) long, is supported at a height of 403 metres (1,322 ft) above the Baluarte riverbed by 12 piers, two of which are also pylons (towers). Each of the two pylons measures 18 by 8.56 metres (59.1 by 28.1 ft) at its base, widens in the centre to carry the roadway before tapering upwards to 8 by 4.10 metres (26.2 by 13.5 ft) wide at its top; the taller, P5, is 169 metres (554 ft) high. 76 steel cables pass over saddles in the pylons to form 152 suspenders in a two plane semi-fan layout. The tallest intermediate pier, P9, is 148 metres (486 ft) high.
It crosses a gorge in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains with a clearance of 390 metres (1,280 ft) below the deck, substantially taller than the Eiffel Tower. Its clearance is 120 metres (390 ft) higher than that of the previous record-holder, France's Millau Viaduct, which has a clearance of 270 metres (890 ft). The bridge's central span, 520 metres (1,710 ft) long, is also the longest cable-stayed span in North America, 37 metres (121 ft) longer than that of the John James Audubon Bridge in St. Francisville, Louisiana.
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