Mexico's Bridges: Colima Armeria Overcrossing

The next bridge along Route 200 is a two-span overcrossing (part of a trumpet interchange) that takes eastbound drivers around a ramp and onto the northbound lanes of the Colima-Armeria Highway.

It seems to me that bridges in Mexico have a lot of character. This bridge has a precast I-girder superstructure, but it also has a beautiful hand-mortared abutment stem-wall. I like the little sidewalls (below the wingwalls) that hold back the embankment and the slope paving under the abutments. And the entire abutment structure was freshly hand painted. You can see that the highway bridges are well maintained.

Perhaps it reflects a less litigious society that there are no crash cushions or guardrails to stop an errant driver from crashing into the center pier. Instead, the pier is painted with black and white stripes to warn drivers to avoid it.

I also like the little pedestals that were poured to support each girder, the big shear keys at the ends of the bent cap, and the bright yellow barrier rails on the bridge. We'l see a lot more of these little touches on Mexican highways that make even a humble overcrossing into something special.

Mexico's Bridges: Colima Armeria Overcrossing by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.