The Arenales Suspension
Bridge, Nicaragua
A study in design for the rural environment
Alan Kreisa Brandon Johnson Alissa Smith
Director of Engineering Director of Programs Director of Engagement
1. INTRODUCTION
More than one billion rural residents across the globe
lack access to a road that is passable during all seasons.
In the developing world, where walking is the primary
mode of transportation, this lack of infrastructure limits
possibility: individuals and families are cut off from
essential healthcare, education, and economic
opportunity, particularly during the rainy season. When
rivers swell and become impassable, walks to school,
work, or the doctor become life-threatening without a
bridge to cross.
For the community of Arenales in northwest Nicaragua,
the need for a footbridge was especially stark. The Estelí
River floods for more than three months of every year,
standing between the 3,300 residents of Arenales and
primary and secondary schools, the local market, jobs on
tobacco farms, and the health clinic.
3/2017
The local municipality had built a suspension bridge over
the river in the early 2000s, but design errors had led to
the structure’s dramatic collapse in 2011. The community
salvaged what they could from the river and attempted
to resurrect the bridge themselves, knowing that this was
a temporary solution (see Figure 3).
When the international non-profit organization Bridges
to Prosperity teamed with the local government of
Condega, Rotary clubs from Nicaragua and New Mexico,
international construction and engineering firms Kiewit
and KPFF, and members of the community to construct a
replacement structure in 2017, the existing walkway was
missing decking planks, making the crossing extremely
dangerous.