'Spanish firm built our bridge upside down'

The Local (Spain) ^ | 08 Jan 2014 17:05 GMT+01:00

[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.

[ApplegateRanch]

without exception, the contracting entity always had an adequate, experienced and competent group of inspectors, in all disciplines, ensuring that construction took place according to the plans and specifications.

Years ago, my oldest brother was setting grade for a freeway drainage channel when I-5 was being rerouted in the Sacramento River Canyon. The Caltrans inspector & he had words concerning it, resulting in #1 Brother pulling the stakes, and resetting the grade, per instruction, in the opposite direction...to flow UPHILL.

Project Engineer came by, and started raising a ruckus, so the Superintendent & the inspector were summoned. The prints were pulled out yet again. #1 Brother re-reset the stakes back to the way he originally had them, and the Caltrans inspector was transferred off the project.

[informavoracious]

Ayn Rand wasn’t so prescient. She was Russian and saw it first-hand.

[gorush]

Good point.