Eric Sakowski

General view of the Baluarte Bridge.

El Puente Baluarte
high cable-stayed bridge in Mexico
In Mexico, a high bridge by name El Puente Baluarte is under construction. It is a cable-stayed bridge, vertical clearance 390 m, 3rd highest in the world [1-2]. The worlds highest bridge is the Siduhe suspension bridge in China dated 2009, vertical clearance 472 m [3].
Town of Mazatln is situated along the Tropic of Cancer in Sinaloa State, in western coast of Mexico near the southern end of Californian Peninsula (Baja California). Town of Durango is situated inland Durango State, some 200 km from Mazatln in a beeline. A new shorter highway is under construction between Mazatln and Durango, near the old curving road. Along the new highway, there are many bridges and tunnels, and the BaRIA 1/2011

luarte Bridge is most notable among these. The Baluarte River with steep slopes flows around the border of Sinaloa and Durango States, and the Baluarte Bridge is situated at place by name El Palmito, near the eastern border of Sinaloa State. The Baluarte Bridge is an ordinary 2-tower cable-stayed bridge, main span 520 m, vertical clearance 390 m, total length 1124 m including the side spans. At Mazatln side

of the bridge, there are some high intermediate piers, of which the highest is pier No. 9. It is 148 m high, which is more than twice compared with the Stadion Tower in Helsinki (72 m). The shape of both concrete towers resembles an inverted-Y from tower tops downwards to deck level. Below deck level the tower shape tapers towards base slab, resembling the shape of towers of the Raip-

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Longitudinal profile of the bridge [2].

Cross-section of the deck. The upper one is concrete deck near towers, the lower one steel deck along the 432 m long middle section of main span [2].

Front and side elevations of the higher tower at Durango side, pier No. 5. The height of this tower is 169 m [2].

Baluarte Bridge compared with Empire State Building, landmark of New York City [1].

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RIA 1/2011

Grupo Triada/SCT

The lower part of the tower at Durango side under construction (pier 5). Its height is 169 m, and there is a temporary office building near it.

paluoto Bridge near Vaasa in Finland (span 250 m). The tower at Durango side is 169 m high, the opposite tower 151 m. Along the main span near the towers there are 44 m long sections of concrete deck measuring 22,1 m x 3,7 m, while along the middle 432 m long section there is steel deck 20,5 m x 3,0 m. The bridge deck accommodates 4 traffic lanes, 2 lanes to each direction, and there are no maintenance and light traffic lanes. The bridge deck slopes downward towards the Mazatln side, longitudinal gradient 5 %. The upper permitted speed for vehicles along the bridge is 80 km/h [2]. The Client is Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes SCT. The Contractor for towers and piers in infrastructure is PERI, while VSL is Contractor for steel cables in superstructure. The construction was started in 2008, and the bridge is due to completion in 2012. The expected construction cost is 105 million dollars (USD) [2]. Juhani Virola, Eur Ing-FEANI

Finnish summary:
Meksikossa on rakenteilla Puente Baluarte -niminen vinokysisilta, vapaa korkeus on 390 m, maailman 3. korkein silta [1-2]. Maailman korkein silta on Kiinassa v. 2009 valmistunut Siduhen riippusilta, vapaa korkeus 472 m [3]. Seuraavalla sivulla tarkemmin Baluarte-sillan pylonien ja vlitukien rakennusvaiheista perustuen RIAn skettin PERI:lt saamaan aineistoon.

The five highest bridges in the world [1]

No. 1 2 3 4 5 Bridge (main span) Siduhe (900 m) Hegigio (470 m) Baluarte (520 m) Balinghe (1088 m) Beipanjiang (388 m) Height 472 m (1) 393 m (2) 390 m (3) 370 m (1) 366 m (1) Location Yesanguanzhen, China Otoma, Papua New Guinea El Palmito, Mexico Guanling, China Xingbeizhen, China Year 2009 2005 2012 2009 2003

Bridge type: (1) suspension bridge, (2) pipe suspension bridge, (3) cable-stayed bridge In the above Table, the term Height = vertical clearance of the bridge = distance between bridge deck and river surface or gorge bottom.

References: [1] Information and illustration kindly given by Eric Sakowski, www.highestbridges.com [2] Information and illustration kindly given by VSL Corporation Mexico S.A. [3] Juhani Virola: The Siduhe Bridge worlds highest bridge built in China. Rakennusinsinri ja -arkkitehti RIA 2010:4, p. 80-82. RIA 1/2011

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