Fast Connections in Lima:
DYWIDAG Bar Tendons Stabilize Arch Bridge

The Ejército Bridge in Lima, Peru, connects the northern districts with the city center and is used by approx. 5,000 vehicles per hour. Due to the high traffic load on all six lanes of this 50 year old structure, the standard queue time for crossing the bridge was approx. 30 to 40 minutes.

As a result, the Lima city council decided to expand the existing bridge by adding two new arch bridges. The new structures were built parallel to the old bridge on its left and right hand sides, increasing the six existing lanes to ten and considerably enhancing traffic flow.

The expansion of the bridge not only shortens driving times for transit traffic to merely two minutes, but also improves travel times for public transport because two of the lanes are exclusively used by city buses.

The two new bridges are 105.05m long and have bridge decks consisting of 200mm reinforced concrete deck slabs and accommodating two 3.5m wide lanes as well as a 1.2m wide pedestrian lane each.

The new structures are steel arch bridges with vertical stays consisting of two Ø 36mm DYWIDAG Bar Tendons each that are protected by HDPE tubes. The arches weigh approx. 360t and have a rectangular hollow box girder section and tubular steel cross bracing. During construction work, tower scaffolds were necessary to control the total weight of the arches in 19 different places of the bridges.

DSI Peru supplied 152 GR 150, Ø 36mm DYWIDAG Bar Tendons for the arches. The tendons were used for a total of 76 double vertical stay cables – known as hangers – that accommodate the total weight of the bridge deck. 19 hangers were assembled in each of the four bridge arches.

Construction work on the Ejército Bridge began in May 2010 and was completed in December 2010. Since then, the Ejército Bridge, which acts as a feeder for the Panamericana Highway System and for other important major streets in the city of Lima, has considerably improved the situation for Lima’s transit traffic.