Venezuelan experts believe that this passage can only be used by pedestrians because the structure is not adequate to support the vehicle weight that could be resumed. For the transit of heavy trucks and other cars, the Las Tienditas bridge should be enabled, they maintained.
Colombian authorities requested that a revision be made to the Simón Bolívar international bridge, which connects the Táchira state of Venezuela with the Colombian municipalities of Cúcuta and Villa del Rosario, because the possible border reopening announced by the president-elect Gustavo Petro would mean a transit constant flow of private vehicles and heavy goods through the viaduct, which has not been used for at least three years.
The director of the National Institute of Roads (Invías) in Norte de Santander, Leonel Valero, explained that for this inspection to take place a national order must be given and added that because it was “improper” to make a diagnosis on a single segment of the via, no further evaluations have been made since diplomatic relations were broken with the administration of Nicolás Maduro, in 2019.
For this reason, it recommended that, at least, a “technical document be generated that allows giving part of tranquility or observations, if any, for the use of bridges, since they have been in disuse and just as things are damaged by use, the opposite also occurs.
According to Valero, so far, the entity that presides over that Colombian region has not received any notification from other high-ranking officials to carry out this evaluation of the viaduct. Nor have they had a visit from specialists who intend to do it, the media reported. The opinion.
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“We have a program to monitor the behavior of the bridges where an inspection is carried out periodically and that information is recorded. In this way, any anomaly that is visually noticeable externally can be corrected in time. In the case of Simon Bolivar Bridgewe must take into account that it is a very old structure and that in addition to the load issues, the downpours that have occurred could affect the material that serves as a support, “he said.
For his part, Carlos Socha, mayor of Villa del Rosario, gave a different opinion on this. He assured that the bridge meets all the conditions for its reopening, although he recalled that there is another alternate route that could be used to communicate with the Venezuelan border state of Táchira, which is the Tienditas bridge, built during his second term as mayor, with an investment of 38 million dollars. That has not been opened yet.
What happens on the Venezuelan side?
William Gómez, an analyst on border issues, pointed out that in 2015 that bridge already presented a collapse and also a traffic jam due to the large volume of mobility through it. For this reason, he considered that the return of the passage of all types of vehicles through that international section is not feasible. He rather he believes, like told the nation Nelson Urueña, representative of the Táchira Customs Association, that the bridge to be used in the event of a possible reopening is that of Las Tienditas.
The one in San Antonio, for its part, will only remain for pedestrian use, as it has been used since October 25, 2021, when, due to announcements by Freddy Bernal, designated Chavista protector on border issues, the passageway was reopened.
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