01/2021

For the fourth year in a row, FHECOR has volunteered for the NGO Bridges to Prosperity (B2P). After “Madriz for Madriz” (2017), “San Vicente” (2018), and “Puka Mayu” (2019), 5 FHECOR volunteers were planning to travel in 2020 to “Tunas Vinto”, Bolivia, to construct a new footbridge. However, since the Covid-19 pandemic made travel impossible, B2P invited us to lend our bridge design expertise as consultants.
The two standard footbridge designs used by B2P are the suspended and suspension bridges, which appropriate for spans 50 - 100 meters. In the effort to conceive a standard design for short spans (5-15 meters), FHECOR developed three conceptual designs with the criteria of being constructable, sustainable, and repeatable.
The first design consists of a reinforced concrete slab built integrally with two box foundations. The second is a footbridge formed by two steel girders carrying a wooden deck and supported on reinforced concrete abutments. The last alternative is similar to the previous one, but using two steel Warren trusses. A BIM model has been developed for the two steel alternatives.
We are pleased to have had such a unique opportunity to collaborate with B2P in 2020.