The Retrofit in Bridges System of Ring Road of the Belém Metropolitan Region - Pará, Brazil

Abstract

This paper approaches the retrofit in the bridges system of the “Alca Viaria,” or ring road, built in the early 2000s in the Metropolitan region of Belem, in the Brazilian state of Para. The ring’s route is 87 kilometers (km) long. It connects the Southwest and South of the state region to the metropolitan region. It also crosses the three rivers of Amazon’s delta in the state of Para: Guama River, with 1,975 m in crossing extension; Acara River and Moju, both with 860 m in crossing extensions. The retrofit of structural systems takes place from the high incidence of impact between barges and bridges, occurring over the last twenty years of the structure’s service life. This results in significant damage to the supports and leads to the partial collapse of the bridge. In the last five years, these kinds of accidents required the retrofit of structural systems with a stayed-cable and the exchange of all strands in the Guamá stayed-cable bridge. Besides this, it also required the construction of floating protections on the lateral bent of the canal, the Moju, and Acará bridges. Therefore, the Department of State and Transportation of Pará has been developing efforts to ensure the operation of the system.