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In the winter of 1998 in Central America, the New Choluteca Bridge (New Choluteca Bridge) in Honduras felt extremely cold. It stood motionless on the shore and watched the river flow away without looking back not far from it.

The bridge in the golden sunlight does not feel warm. It is nostalgic for the river while thinking about the meaning of its own bridge as a bridge.

New Choluteka Bridge and River丨jnewsvn.com

After many years of loneliness, the new Choluteka Bridge is known to more and more people. It has become a freehand drawing of one’s own life in people’s cognition:

The exam is like the new Choluteka Bridge. My efforts are on the bridge, and the scope of the exam is in the river;

Work is like the new Choluteka Bridge, the project is planned on the bridge, and the project is actually in the river;

Making a living is like the new Cholutka Bridge. What I am good at is on the bridge, and my money-making work is in the river;

The epidemic prevention in some places is like the New Cholutka Bridge, the epidemic prevention measures are on the bridge, and the new crown epidemic is in the river;

The new Choluteka Bridge straddles the useless place proudly.

Let’s take a look at it again.

New Choluteka Bridge and River丨jnewsvn.com
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Hashimoto had no intention of doing this

Once upon a time, there was a river in Honduras on the other side of the earth called the Choluteca River. In 1937, the Americans built a Choluteka bridge over the river. This bridge is a suspension bridge, that is to say, there are several tall pillars on the bridge, and there are suspension cables on the pillars to fix the bridge deck, just like the Golden Gate Bridge in the United States.

That’s it丨wikimedia commons

The river, the bridge, and the people by the river, live the happiness of peace and securityday.

More than 50 years later, with the economic development, there is a lot of traffic, and one bridge is not enough. People are planning to build a new bridge on the Choluteka River for a happy future.

In the spring of 1998, thanks to the efforts of a Japanese company, a new bridge was erected. This is our new Choluteka Bridge. Unlike the Americans, the new Choluteka Bridge does not use a suspension cable structure, but a small-span arch bridge of Xyinliang style, white and straight.

If you don’t know what a small-span arch bridge is, you can go up and see what the new Choluteka Bridge looks like.

I want to talk about it here. Many media confuse the old Cholutka bridge and the new Cholutka bridge, and even say that the old Cholutka bridge is the new Cholutka bridge when I was a child. Don’t believe it, just see if there is a suspension cable.

The pictures circulated on the Internet say the before and after comparison of the river escape. In fact, the old Cholutka Bridge is on the left and the new Cholutka Bridge is on the right丨 jnewsvn.com

It is said in “Xinhua Dictionary”: bridges are buildings erected on the water or in the air to facilitate passage. We have reason to believe that the new Choluteca Bridge met this definition for a while and was not born as an installation art, otherwise the Hondurans would not have to invite Japanese construction companies to go through half the world.

But after a long time, I really can’t find a picture of the new Choluteka Bridge in service. It is estimated that it is difficult for anyone to find it. After all, foreign media have used pictures of the old bridge to deceive them, right?

until the hurricane comes

Another reason why there are no photos of the new Choluteka Bridge in service is: you never know how fast the accident will come, it will come soonNot enough image data is left.

On October 22, 1998, a super-giant hurricane code-named “Mitch(Mitch)” formed in the Caribbean Sea, and then moved aggressively Honduras advances. Seven days later, “Mickey” landed in Honduras, causing large-scale floods and landslides. As the deadliest Atlantic hurricane in nearly 200 years, Mitch caused the loss of approximately 35,000 houses in Honduras and damage to 50,000 houses.

Among them is the new Choluteka Bridge, which was built only half a year ago.

The Honduran capital Tegucigalpa after “Mickey”丨wikimedia commons/United States Geological Survey

Let us restore the experience of this bridge in a hurricane.

On October 29, 1998, “Mickey” approached the Choluteka River with a violent storm. The vegetation on the mountain was destroyed, causing mudslides and massive floods. The flood destroyed the piers of the approach bridge on both sides, leaving only the piers and decks of the main structure, which is the lonely section of the bridge in the photo.

The bridge was destroyed and the river was taken away. Since there are only 4 main bridge piers left in the entire river valley, the water flow will slow down when flowing through the main bridge piers, and the sediment in the flood will also accumulate upstream of the main bridge piers. As a result, the more silt piled in the middle of the river, the water flow can only pass by the side; this in turn causes the river beside it to rush deeper and deeper, and finally simply find another way beside the original river.

This scene is like a toll station on a highway: passages on both sidesIt is an ETC channel that can be passed quickly, and the middle is a relatively slow manual toll channel. Cars will become more and more blocked in the artificial channel, forming a traffic island, and everyone will get ETC after a long time.

The river is free

Change your path when you are tired

Still rolling forward

Leave the broken bridge in place

Because it is destined to only become a bridge of this river

Look again丨jnewsvn.com

Don’t say anything, let’s talk about sadness.

Happiness and happiness are the end

Five years after “Mickey” left, Honduras, which was hit hard, repaired the new Choluteca Bridge. What’s even more amazing is that the channel of the Cholutka River moved back like a prodigal son.

In 2016, the Choluteca River and the restored new Choluteca Bridge丨choluteca.net

When the weather is good, today’s New Cholutka Bridge is still beautiful (the sign says “Chaoyang Bridge”, this is New Cholut Another name of Kaqiao)丨Twitter@ExploraHonduras

Like all stories with a bumpy ending and a happy ending, what can the experience of the new Choluteka bridge bring us?

First of all, the stem picture.

Like this. Bridge: project plan; river: project.

Secondly, it must be Lessons. For those who are prepared for a rainy day and are prepared for danger, this kind of “beautiful gift and the bride ran away” is relatively rare, because most bridges are designed to directly span the entire river valley, and the places that may be flooded are installed and strong. Piers.

Friends who live in the Yellow River Basin must have seen it. Why is the bridge on the Yellow River so long, several times wider than the river water, and it’s built solidly even in places where there is no water, and it’s pulled directly from one side of the river bank. The embankment on the other side. One of the important reasons for this is the fear that the river will be abducted by the flood.

Sanmenxia Yellow River Highway and Railway Bridge in Henan. See how far the piers are installed! 丨Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Hao Yuan

And the Cholutka River… You look back at the photos, there is no embankment at all; In addition, the water of the Cholutka River is very shallow and the river course changes frequently, so there are no shipping ships, and the height of the bridge hole There are no requirements, so that the bridge is short and short, and the approach bridge is also very streamlined and economical. Of course, the most important thing is that the local economic strength is limited and they are unwilling to build a long enough bridge.

Finally, if you feel that your life is like the new Choluteka Bridge, on the one hand, you have to admit that some external forces are irresistible, and on the other hand, you still have to think about whether it’s because you haven’t done well to meet the storm’s challenges. ready.

This article is from WeChat official account:Guokr (ID: Guokr42)< span class = "text-remarks">, author: Tangshuang Li, Li Xiaokui