Diatomea Footbridge - Integrating Modern Infrastructure into a National Park in Chile

The Petrohue Waterfalls in South of Chile are located in one of the most visited of Chile´s National Parks. It receives up to 7,000 visitors per day, most of them without outdoor gear. When the existing footbridge was found structurally insufficient, a new footbridge should be designed that complies with the Park Ranger's vision of a modern National Park. The new visually attractive and spacious Diatomea Footbridge is a hollow steel beam bridge with a steel-concrete composite deck. It is 17.25 m long and 3.4 m wide. When shop drawings were finished, the Ministry of Economy and Tourism wanted to turn the project down, precisely because it looked too modern for a National Nature Park. Luckily, it was too late to change the design, but funds for the construction were put back until further notice. Two years later a volcano eruption affected the existing footbridge and eventually, the Diatomea Footbridge was built.

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