Puerto Rico Earthquakes 2019 - 2020
As mentioned
elsewhere,
Puerto Rico has
nearly 27,000 kilometers of roads. These need to be prioritized for
assessment by use, by volume and by accessability. By the latter we
mean can repair crews and materials get there.
We are, alas, mostly
familiar with eight heirloom bridges and will have to remedy this
defect in our knowledge. As with roads, bridges have to be assessed
and possibly given a seismic upgrade based on usage. In our experience
it is far cheaper and much faster to fix a bridge before it falls. Our
impression is that 104 bridges were damaged and that 18 were closed.
As is the case with many bridges on islands and along coasts,
saltwater is very corrosive. The 2019 version of the American Road and
Transportation Builders' Association listed 273 bridges as
structurally deficient (out of 2,325). 1726 bridges were
assessed as needing major work.
Our impression is that there are
three major tunnels on Puerto Rico: Minillas and the twin tunnels on
Highway 53 named for Dr. Vicente Morales Lebron.
Recommendations - Roads, bridges,
dams
and tunnels