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Piedra Gorda Suspended Pedestrian Footbridge
Project # 036
Project Slide Show
Rotary Sponsor: The Rotary Club of Portsmouth
Local Honduras Sponsors: Yoro Municipality
Local Community Sponsor: The village of Piedra Gorda
NGO partner: GOAL
Trainees: Engineer and Technician from GOAL; District Technicians from the Municipality of Yoro; Instituto Nacional de Formación Profesional
Bridge name: Piedra Gorda
River name: Piedra Gorda
Pedestrian Footbridge Type: Suspended
Bridge span: 32 meters / 102 feet
Population served by bridge: 800 people
Bridge Story: When it rains in Piedra Gorda, it pours. Piedra Gorda is a small town at the end of the road and is an often forgotten community. Piedra Gorda is located in the heart of terrible poverty in central Honduras and often the villages on both sides of this bridge are in serious danger from such floods, mostly because the floods block them from any access to health care and food during emergencies, sometimes for weeks.
As a large percentage men from Piedra Gorda have left the community to seek work elsewhere, the women of Piedra Gorda are faced with all of their typical tasks in addition to those left void by the lack of men. As such, when the community decided that the bridge project was highest priority, it was the women that formed the bridge committee and the women that carried the construction. The successful completion of the Piedra Gorda bridge would not have been possible without the leadership and work of the local women.
GOAL, an Irish aid organization, was trained in suspended bridge design and construction on the Piedra Gorda bridge. GOAL is an implementing a large “gestion de riesgo” (risk management) project in Locomapa Yoro, where Piedra Gorda is located. When GOAL entered the area they asked each community to form a risk management committee who identified the community and project with greatest need most during an emergency crisis. Piedra Gorda, among several other communities, identified this pedestrian bridge as their highest priority project.
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Project # 036 - Piedra Gorda Suspended BridgeCompleted Bridge Project Registration
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