New Pumarejo Bridge over Magdalena River

Abstract

The New Pumarejo Bridge over Magdalena River in Barranquilla, Colombia, is one of the most relevant bridges built over the past few years in South America. The bridge has a total length of 2173 m without expansion joints, divided in two access viaducts, 618 and 755 m long, and a cable-stayed central stretch of 800 m with a main 380 m long span (Colombia’s record). The access viaducts have 70 m long typical spans built by a movable scaffolding system (first realization in Colombia), whilst the cable-stayed stretch is built by free cantilevering from the pylons with 10 m long “in-situ” segments (well above the usual range). 3.65 m high, the cross section has a variable width that reaches 38.1 m in all the central stretch, what makes it the widest bridge in its typology (concrete box girder with central cable-stays).