The completion of the Ponte da Integração Brasil-Paraguai, the friendship bridge linking Brazil and Paraguay, is a long-awaited second connection between the two countries with a main span of 470 meters, making it the longest in Latin America. A project of this size required suitably large expansion joints, which were delivered by the structural protection specialists at MAURER.
The Ponte da Integração Brasil-Paraguai is an asymmetric cable-stayed bridge with a total length of 760 meters. The pylons reach up 190.17 meters in Brazil and 185.04 meters on the Paraguayan side. The bridge crosses the Paranà river and connects the Paraguayan city of Presidente Franco with Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil.
The bridge has an average width of 17.8 meters, with lanes measuring 3.6 meters wide in each direction. It also has a 3-meter-wide hard shoulder and a pavement measuring 1.7 meters in width. It will relieve the strain on the friendship bridge inaugurated in 1965 between Foz do Iguaçu and Ciudad del Este. This older bridge will then be closed to heavy goods vehicles, which will only be allowed to use the new bridge.
The record span required the largest expansion joint constructions ever built in either country. Fitted at the abutments at both ends of the bridge, these flexible elements compensate for movements that the bridge makes due to traffic, wind and temperature fluctuations in relation to the mainland. Expansion joints also ensure that vehicles can drive across this juncture unimpeded, regardless of the transition construction’s displacement. The joints are installed perpendicular to the direction of travel.
