Constructora Rizek - Part 2:
Victor Herrera (Project Supervisor, Constructora Rizek)
From the beginning of the Santo Domingo Ring Road project I was heavily involved in the design and planning process. Along the 36 km stretch we had to build, three waterway crossings posed the following challenges:
- Time
The crossings were on the critical path for the overall construction of the highway. - Hydraulics
We were required to allow for a maximum freeboard height above the calculated flood level.
As I would soon find out, BEBO was the best answer to the challenges at hand. Together with the engineers at BEBO we quickly determined that the E78T/0 arch fulfilled all the requirements while fitting perfectly into the surroundings.
The next step was now to convince the overseeing authorities of the feasibility and the benefits of this new technology. What undoubtedly helped our case was the experience within the BEBO Community with many similar structures built in various regions around the world.
With a combined effort of Rizek and BEBO engineers, we obtained approval for two of the three crossings under the condition of passing a full scale load test upon completion of the first BEBO structure.
This was obviously good news on one hand, but on the other hand we had to accept the risk of not passing the load test and having to replace the structure we had just built.
“There is no doubt the structure will pass the test!” We had faith in this BEBO statement and should not be disappointed.
We gave the two BEBO structures the go head and off we were with the fabrication of the moulds and the casting of the arch elements.