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| 2010-2011 Bridge |
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Location
 Villa el Carmen, Managua, Nicaragua
Geographical Coordinates: 11°55'13.70" N 86°32'53.88" W
Villa el Carmen is a small community about 27 kilometers from the shores of the Pacific Ocean and 40 kilometers west-southwest of Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua.
Villa el Carmen is comprised of rural farming communities with scarce resources and limited access to health care, educational facilities, modern infrastructure, and marketplaces to sell goods. The local families are involved in three main industries: cattle, sugarcane, and corn. Only last year, through the assistance of the nearby oceanside resort, did the community recieve electricity. The gently rolling hills of the region, sloping from Managua to the coast, make transportation relatively easy. During the dry season, the area's rivers sometimes serve as roads for the workers commuting to their jobs via bicycle but during the rainy season the water levels rise 1.5m making even transportation across the river impossible.
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Phase I -
Preliminary Efforts
ND SEED was formed in
partnership with the non-profit organization
Bridges to Prosperity (B2P). According to
their mission statement, "Bridges to
Prosperity is a volunteer-based charity that
seeks to empower poor, ruralAfrican, Asian, and
Latin American communities through
footbridge building, thereby advancing
personal responsibility, community public
works, economic prosperity, and access to
schools, clinics, jobs, and markets." B2P
was a driving force in the preliminary
efforts by providing a contact person and by
making ample resources available through
its website.
ND SEED established a
support structure within the University of
Notre Dame of interested faculty and
administrators to assist in their efforts.
Throughout the fall of 2010, the
team members worked to raise the
necessary funds and visited the site over fall break. Even during this spring semester, the fundraising remains a large focus of the team.
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Phase II - Site Visit
In October of 2010, ND
SEED took its first of two trips to
Nicaragua. During this trip, the team met with the mayor of the municipality to discuss where the bridge should be constructed as well as to ask for financial assistance in gathering the materials. The team also met with a group of University of Nicaragua (UNI) students who will be partnering with the team and overseeing the project while the NDSEED team is in the States. Establishing a relationship with the community members and meeting with a team of UNI students was one of the main goals of this trip.
Also while in Nicaragua, the team conducted a site survey, inquired about local materials, and became familiar with the culture of the country. After determining the best
location for abutments, the soil in those
areas was analyzed and classified. A
survey was performed, and a bridge
profile was drawn with the survey data. Performing the site
survey allowed ND SEED to obtain the
necessary information to design the
footbridge. Additionally, the team investigated the accessibility, availability, and cost of materials. Most of the bulkier materials such as the sand, cement, and aggregate are available within the municipality. The rest of the materials, with the exception of the steel cables, are available in the capital city of Managua, which is an hour away. The steel cabling will have to be purchased within the States and shipped to the site.
As of now the team has learned that erosion will soon make the only trail leading into and out of the river gorge impassable. At that point, the villagers will have to travel over a mile to another crossing. Constructing a bridge in this beautiful community will be a small investment with huge returns for the community.
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Phase III - Bridge
Design
ND SEED will study design and construction
manuals provided by Bridges to Prosperity
during the coming weeks. The team has
split into two smaller teams: a design team
and a construction team. The design team
will focus on the design of the bridge. The design
process will be supervised by certified
civil engineers who are professors at Notre
Dame. The final design will be subject to
technical review and approved by Bridges to
Prosperity prior to construction.The construction team will plan the
construction processes and develop a
construction schedule and budget.
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Phase IV - Bridge
Construction
The construction of the bridge will be from March 2011 - June 2011. The
foundation and towers will be built prior to
ND SEED's arrival in Nicaragua. This construction will be monitored by the UNI students. ND SEED will
be responsible for the construction of the
anchors, the cable placement, the
approaches, and the decking. The bridge will
be built using as many local materials as
possible so that the community can maintain it.
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Phase V - Project
Continuation
Project continuation
is the driving force for the founding of ND
SEED. ND SEED hopes to establish themselves
as a reputable presence first at the
University of Notre Dame and then
nationwide.
University involvement
with Bridges to Prosperity has been
extending over the past year. Notre Dame
hopes to be a role model for other schools
to follow in community bridge building, just
as the University of Iowa's team inspired ND
SEED. This is the third team from Notre
Dame to design and construct a bridge
through Bridges to Prosperity, and the hope
is for the project to continue with new
Notre Dame teams in the upcoming years.
Bridges to Prosperity
seeks to empower rural communities in
developing countries not by just building
footbridges for them but by enabling them to continue to build footbridges after B2P has
left the country. They do this by partnering
with local organizations to train in the
footbridge technology while constructing
several "classroom" bridges. A major goal of
ND SEED will be to assist in this effort by
teaching the community about the bridge
building process and constructing the bridge
with them.
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ND SEED|156 Fitzpatrick Hall|Notre Dame, IN
46556|ndseed@nd.edu |
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