Bridges to Prosperity
Posted by Vira Hughes
on May 25, 2016
On Tuesday we heard a very interesting talk from Rob Richardson, who is a board member for Bridges to Prosperity.
Bridges to Prosperity is a US based Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) that designs and builds footbridges in communities around the world.
Rob's day job is working as an engineer and project manager for the North East Henday project. In his spare time he works for Bridges to Prosperity, as chairman of the Technical Advisory Board.
They have built over 200 footbridges in over 20 countries, some of them being in Rwanda, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Guatemala. The bridges are designed to meet US standards and built with donated steel and concrete materials and volunteer labour. The bridges are a suspension design that can withstand heavy use and are situated strategically in such a way that they will not be affected by storm floods or shifting riverbeds. They cost approximately twenty thousand dollars each and take about one week to construct once the footings are in place. They are built in locations where they can improve access to health care facilities, schools and markets for the local population. The final design for each bridge is prepared and built by University students under the supervision of a technical mentor and instructor using the design plan supplied by Bridges to Prosperity. The bridges are considered to be the property of the local community who are trained and expected to perform regular maintenance to the bridge deck. Bridges to Prosperity also goes in about every five years to inspect their bridges.
The average lifetime of the bridges is expected to be thirty years. Bridges to Prosperity tries to partner with groups who support building health and educational facilities in order to improve access and create a mutually beneficial project.