DailyCelestialChallenge-• Wednesday - Structures / (Maracaibo lake bridge) VENEZUELA.

The General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge, or more commonly, the Bridge Over the Lake, was a project of architecture, construction and civil engineering born during the government of General Marcos Pérez Jiménez, but executed and inaugurated by President Rómulo Betancourt on August 24, 1962

The original project could not be carried out due to the overthrow of Pérez Jiménez. In fact, the bridge that was conceived for that then would have dimensions superior to the one that ended up being built years later.

Currently this engineering work, pride of all Zulia, has 135 sections, two of them 235 meters. Its height is 45 meters, which allows under it to navigate the huge oil tankers that enter and leave the lake.

In a massive act, the bridge was inaugurated by President Rómulo Betancourt on August 24, 1962.

The Lake of Maracaibo is an exceptional phenomenon in the geography of the world: it is the only lake related to the sea, its northernmost part is sea tides in particularly brackish waters despite the fresh water discharges from the rivers Catatumbo, Chama , Escalante, Motatán, Santa Ana, Apón and Palmar, among others.

The tragedy of the bridge.

On April 6, 1964, the "Esso Maracaibo" tanker of 36,000 tons of displacement, loaded with crude oil, ran out of power, which caused it to collide sideways with two pilings of the bridge, and caused the structure to break.

Unfortunately, several vehicles that were traveling on the bridge did not notice the accident and fell into the void, which caused the death of 7 people.

Eight months later, the bridge was rebuilt by the Creole Petroleum Corporation, owner of the tanker.

An average of 75 thousand vehicles travel daily along the bridge, although the capacity of the bridge is for 25 thousand. Its current situation worries both those who cross it and engineering professionals. In general, the damages are greater in the lateral piles because of the abundant salinity in the waters.

In spite of the corrosion, the overdesign of the bridge makes it resistant and there is no immediate danger, but it is a problem in which more attention must be paid by the authorities.