The César Gaviria Trujillo Viaduct is a cable-stayed bridge

Cable-stayed bridge

A cable-stayed bridge is a bridge that consists of one or more columns , with cables supporting the bridge deck....

 connecting the neighbouring cities of Pereira

Pereira, Colombia

Pereira is the capital city of the Colombian department of Risaralda. It stands in the center of the western region of the country, located in a small valley that descends from a part of the western Andes mountain chain. Its strategic location in the coffee producing area makes the city an urban...

 and Dosquebradas

Dosquebradas

Dosquebradas is the second largest city and a municipality in the Risaralda Department, Colombia. , it had a population of approximately 200,000 inhabitants. The city is connected by the César Gaviria Trujillo Viaduct to Pereira, the capital of the department....

 in Risaralda

Risaralda Department

Risaralda is a department of Colombia. It is located in the western central region of the country and part of the Paisa Region. Its capital is Pereira.It was divided from the department of Caldas in 1966...

, Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

. It is one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in South America and, at the time of its completion in 1997, ranked 20th in the world.

The bridge has a total length of 440 metres, including a central span of 211 metres. There are four traffic lanes and two sidewalks, giving a total width of 26 metres. There are two towers that have a height of 56 metres above the deck, which in turn has a maximum height of 55 metres above the Otún River

Otún River

The Otún River is a river in the Risaralda department of Colombia. Its source is Lake Otún, fed by meltwater from Nevado Santa Isabel, and its outlet is the Cauca River...

.

The bridge was built by a Brazilian and German consortium, with assistance from French and Portuguese firms. Construction of the bridge took three years and was completed in 1997, at a cost of US$58 million. Twelve workers died during the construction process.

The bridge has had a significant impact on reducing traffic congestion in the two cities. It reduced the travel time between them by up to 40 minutes, avoiding the need to descend to the bottom of the river valley. It also had an important regional effect, through improved transportation links between Manizales

Manizales

Manizales is a city and municipality in central Colombia, capital of Department of Caldas and part of the region of Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis, near the Nevado del Ruiz volcano....

, Armenia

Armenia, Colombia

Armenia is the capital of Quindío, a department in Colombia. The city is located at coordinates 4.5170° north, 75.6830° west, 290 kilometers west of Bogotá. Armenia is a mid-size city located between Bogotá, Medellín and Cali, the 3 largest Colombian cities. The city's area code for phone calls is...

 and Pereira.

The bridge has become infamous as a site for suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

s. From the time of its completion until July 2005, 88 people have ended their lives by jumping off the bridge, including people from neighbouring departments who were attracted by the high and accessible structure. Two people have survived the fall, in one case by landing in a stand of guadua

Guadua

Guadua is a Neotropics genus of thorny clumping bamboo, ranging from moderate to very large species. Physically, Guadua angustifolia is noted for being the largest Neotropics bamboo. The genus is similar to Bambusa and is sometimes included in Bambusa...

 growing by the river. In a particularly shocking episode in 2003, a woman threw her 2-year-old daughter off the bridge before jumping to her own death with her 7-month-old daughter. But in 2008, the government of Pereira demanded the construction of some kind of barrier in the bredge's borders, and, since its construction, no one has jumped off it, causing a relief on its worrying population.

The bridge is named after César Gaviria Trujillo

César Gaviria

César Gaviria Trujillo is a Colombian politician and a Latin American statesman. He served as President of Colombia from 1990 to 1994, and Secretary General of the Organization of American States from 1994 until 2004.-Early life:...

, president of Colombia from 1990 and 1994, who was born in Pereira.