Posted on 01/11/2014 4:44:49 PM PST by DeaconBenjamin
The grand opening of Chile's first ever drawbridge has been delayed after it emerged at least one traffic deck had been installed upside down. Now the country's president is blaming the project's Spanish developer for the mistake.
The $30-million (€22-million) drawbridge project was supposed to open this month, and become an instant landmark connecting Valdivia with Teja island by bridging the Cau Cau River.
But it has ended up a laughing stock in local social media, as Chileans wondered how construction workers managed to mess up something as seemingly clear as up and down.
Twitter users in Chile have parodied the building error with (fake) images like the one in the tweet below:
Problemas con la instalación de nuevo puente en Valdivia. Los quiero mucho. pic.twitter.com/g3g0UJKHmf — Ed (@edbvd) January 6, 2014
The fail has also got President Sebastián Piñera a bit defensive. "It can be fixed, ... and it will be fixed by the company that made the mistake," Pinera said dropping the ball in the court of Spanish infrastructure builders Azvi.
Inspectors getting ready for opening day found that either one or two of the traffic decks were installed backwards, authorities said.
"The only responsible party is the builder. We are going to make them answer for this," Public Works Minister Loreto Silva.
A spokesperson from Andalusia-based Azvi company told The Local the company was now reviewing information provided by Silva's department.
As yet, no new opening date for the bridge has been announced.
Valdivia, 840 kilometers (520 miles) south of sprawling Santiago, is home to about 125,000 people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5bG2JSC6RU
A video showing how the Valdivia drawbridge should actually operate.
January has not been a good month for Spanish developers in Latin America. Spain's infrastructure giant Sacyr — part of a consortium contracted to expand the Panama Canal to accommodate new super container ships — is currently embroiled in a costs row with the Panama Canal Authority.
The two parties are in negotiations over who will pay for cost overruns.
Spain's Public Works minister flew to Panama for emergency talks in a spat that threatens the future of the critical project.
It did.
No wonder our Congress is so enamored with Spanish speakers. They would fit right in!
Meanwhile the Italians and Spanish are working on the Panama Canal. What could go wrong?
Note there is no picture of the actual fail.
Dreamers!
Government overseers employing union labor. What could go wrong?
“That’s not a bug, that’s a feature.”
How prescient was Ayn Rand?
That is because there is not much to see. Until you try to raise/lower the bridge. Then it doesn’t work.
“at least one traffic deck had been installed upside down.”
This company should be getting a lot of Australian bridge construction contracts soon.
Actually this is pretty simple, the bridge section was
fabricated in Spain which is above the equator and the
bridge was built in Chile below the equator. So it
was a case of simple misunderstanding.
If they take the bridge section back to Spain, every thing
will be fine...
Well, here in the good old USA, I saw a fire station built with doors that were too small for the firetrucks.
Gee, and Texas tried to get these chingalera’s to build our highways.
In government speak ... it meets the government requirements and specifications.
Am I racist if I laughed?
Years ago the company that rebuilt the main road through our hometown didn’t match the road to the side streets. The side streets met the road at a point about 3 feet higher than the new road.
When they tore up the old road they neglected to refill it to the right level. I don’t know how they missed it because the curbs went in before repaving and you would think someone would notice the waist high curbs.
They eventually came back and cut the side streets down to the new road grade. It looks kind of odd to this day because the curbs are 3 feet high everywhere but the corners and the side streets have a sharp little hill right at the corner.
Italians do great with ships, sports cars, bridges, and canals. Spanish, not so much.
Scetv’s new facility built in the mid 90s had hallways big enough to drive a car though. Why is anyone’s guess but the great architect forgot to put a large enough door in the plans.
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