Chari Chari Suspended Pedestrian Bridge

The subject of this paper is the development, design and locally-appropriate construction of the Chari Chari Cable-Supported Pedestrian Bridge; a 156-meter suspended footbridge across the Rio Mizque located within the Andes Mountains in the central Bolivian municipality of Omereque. The bridge now provides safe access for children up and down the valley to come to school without attempting to wade through the river. It also provides safe access for people to take produce and other goods across the river to markets in nearby communities.

The paper will discuss the challenges, methods, innovations and benefits to building a long-span structure using sustainable methods in a rural developing community. Both furnishing the resources and creating an effective local organization comprised the goal of Bridges to Prosperity (B2P) and its partners in constructing the Chari Chari Bolivia Cable-Supported Pedestrian Bridge. By constructing the bridge using local labour and locally available materials, B2P’s project utilized inherently sustainable resources. This construction model can be replicated in other locations with similar conditions through B2P’s global footbridge program. Readers will gain insight into the role structural engineers can play in providing a substantial positive impact to developing countries.