This Wednesday, the Chirajara Bridge will be demolished

The implosion will be made at 2 pm and 200 kilograms of explosive, 3,000 meters of detonating cord and 30 detonators will be used

This Wednesday at 14:00, the demolition of the structure that follows the bridge Chirajara, on the road Bogotá-Villavicencio, is planned. This is the project in which on January 15 the incident occurred in which a section of the bridge collapsed, claiming the lives of nine people (Read Infografía: el abecé de la affaire Chirajara)

According to the report prepared by the firm Modjeski and Masters Battery B of the cable-stayed bridge collapsed due to design flaws and the pile C (who remained standing) has the same flaws. It is therefore likely to collapse and should be demolished. On the other hand, the foundations of the book seem to be in good shape to begin rebuilding the structure.

In this way, the authorities will close the road from at 13:00 Bogotá-Villavicencio ] to effect the demolition of Pile C. The activity will be carried out by the group of experts of the firm Demoliciones Atila Implosión SAS, engaged by Coviandes (the concessionaire of the road).

The company explained that controlled explosives will be used, "which decreases the seismicide of the impact on falling, noise and dispersion of particles" which will have minimal impact on the environment, communities and road users.

He added that "the demolition of the structure will require 15 minutes of preparation, less than a minute for implosion and between five and seven minutes for the dust to dissipate. Then the condition of the structure will be checked. They will be used near 200 kilos of explosives, 3,000 meters of detonating cord and about 30 detonators and eleven experts will participate in the cause.

The total cost of the project is greater than 75 000 million dollars and was under construction since 2014. There are 45 other bridges under the responsibility of Coviandes.