San Roque González de Santa Cruz Bridge

About

The San Roque González de Santa Cruz Bridge iis an international cable-stayed road-rail bridge that spans the Paraná River, connecting the cities of Posadas, Argentina, and Encarnación, Paraguay. Originally proposed in 1977 as compensation to Paraguay for territorial flooding caused by the Yacyretá Dam, the 2,550-meter (8, 366 ft) structure features a 570-meter (1, 870 ft) main span and a 1,595-meter (5, 233 ft) approach viaduct, accommodating both vehicular traffic and the Posadas-Encarnación International Train. It is named in honor of Saint Roque González de Santa Cruz, a 17th-century Jesuit missionary who founded reductions in the region and was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988. Though construction began in 1981 under an Italian-led consortium by Impregilo with a projected three-year timeline, the project faced a decade of delays and a financial scandal before its inauguration on 2 April 1990. Following a political shift in Argentina in 1989, incoming government ministers authorized substantial state compensation for the contractors by overturning a prior waiver agreement on the grounds of state coercion. This payout was subsequently declared illegal by the National Court of Accounts (Tribunal de Cuentas de la Nación), which determined that the claims of coercion were fabricated and that the contractor-drafted agreement already favored the consortium at the state's expen

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.