CubaPLUS Magazine

Bacunayagua Bridge

By: Wilfredo Alayón / Photos: José (Tito) Meriño
Bacunayagua Bridge

Considered one of the seven wonders of Cuban civil engineering because of its length, height and design, the Bacunayagua Bridge is an obligatory connection between Mayabeque and Matanzas provinces, in the country’s west.
Bacunayagua Bridge
At about 18 kilometers from the 300-year old city of Matanzas, the bridge was built by Cuban civil engineers headed by Luis Sáenz Duplace. This was the first time in which structural concrete was used for the semi-arches of the Melan system.

The use of this type of arch was somewhat novel for the time, as it was built with laminated steel that was assembled in two parts and later joined through rotating until the final position.

The beams were placed with launch armor, without which the work would have not been possible, since at the time (1956-1960), technicians of that sector in Cuba only used 30-ton cranes.

The Bacunayagua Bridge, opened on September 26, 1959, is Cuba’s longest and highest bridge — 3.14 meters long and 110 meters high. It is erected over a vast gorge formed by the Bacunayagua River.

A stop at the viewpoint located on the west side of this iconic bridge grants exclusive access to an exuberant landscape of sea, the gorge formed by the above-mentioned fluvial current, Royal palm trees and other botanical species.

Birds fly below the level of vehicles and road surface; for that reason, it is often impossible to sense the real size of the animals. Houses, for their part, seem tiny and people are almost imperceptible.

From the bridge, one can appreciate the Yumurí Valley in all its splendor, an internationally known gem of a landscape adorning the city of Matanzas — the capital of this province, about 100 kilometers east of Havana.

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