Low demand combined with difficulties in construction and maintenance leave the Amazon region with almost no official bridges.
Local people often take boats when they need to move on the Amazon River. Image: Photo Spirit
The Amazon River zigzags across at least 6,400 km, but there are no official bridges across the river. One of the main reasons is that there is not much demand for bridges on the Amazon River. Rain forests are sparsely populated with relatively little infrastructure and roads, making bridges unnecessary, in contrast to the River Thames in London, according to IFL Science.
“There is not enough urgent need for bridges across the Amazon River,” said Walter Kaufmann, chair of structural engineering (concrete structures and bridge design) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. “Of course, there are many technical and transportation difficulties.”
Building infrastructure in dense rainforests is challenging. That’s also why there are very few large-scale settlements in the Amazon region. Not only is the ground soft and unpredictable, man-made structures are also easily “swallowed” by plants that grow strongly in the rain forest and harsh conditions such as heavy rain. Unless planned perfectly, any attempt to build a bridge will end with a crumbling foundation.
The Amazon region is littered with the remains of settlements that have been invaded by nature over the centuries. New imaging technology reveals that there are likely more than 10,000 pre-Columbian archaeological sites hidden in the Amazon basin. Unlike ruins from ancient cultures in temperate regions around the world, the structures in the Amazon were covered and buried by plant growth.
A good example is the 870 km long BR-319 highway that runs through the pristine Amazon rainforest from Manaus to Porto Velho. This highway was built in the early 1970s but was finally abandoned in 1988 due to insufficient maintenance costs and requiring frequent repairs due to rapid deterioration.
The Amazon is a region with extremely rich and unique biodiversity and culture. This area is under enormous pressure from deforestation and mining activities. Road and bridge construction could subject it to heavier exploitation. Research results show that 95% of deforestation activities take place within 5.5 km of a road because it provides access for lumberjacks, vehicles and machinery. The roads were opened for logging with many branches spreading out from the main road, according to Carlos Souza Jr., a researcher at the Imazon program.