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The Amazon in South America is the longest river in the world—or so says a recent survey by the government of Brazil, which has a vested interest in staying a few steps ahead of the Nile. The Amazon has a vast jungle basin, breathtaking waterfalls, and the world's largest river dolphins, but it might be more remarkable for something it doesn't have: a single bridge. That's right, the Amazon is the world's longest river not crossed by any bridges. |
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Welcome to the jungle! We don't have a bridge.
The Amazon runs over 4,300 miles from its headwaters in the Andes to its massive delta on the Atlantic. While the 25 million people who live on or near its banks span Brazil, Peru, and Colombia, living in sprawling metropolitan cities and tiny tribal villages, all have one thing in common: to cross to the other side, they'll need to jump in a boat or hop on a ferry. No road crosses the Amazon. It divides an entire continent nearly in two.
Bridges in the Amazon would work great… until January.
For most of its length, the Amazon isn't anywhere close to too wide to bridge—in the dry season. But during the rainy season, the river rises thirty feet, and crossings that were once three miles wide can balloon to thirty miles in a matter of weeks. The soft sediment that makes up the river bank is constantly eroding, and the river is often full of debris, including floating vegetation islands called matupás, which can measure up to 10 square acres. It's a civil engineer's worst nightmare. |
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