Libertador General San Martín Bridge

The Libertador General San Martín Bridge is a cantilever

Cantilever bridge

A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using cantilevers, structures that project horizontally into space, supported on only one end. For small footbridges, the cantilevers may be simple beams; however, large cantilever bridges designed to handle road or rail traffic use trusses built from...

road bridge that crosses the Uruguay River

Uruguay River

The Uruguay River is a river in South America. It flows from north to south and makes boundary with Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, separating some of the Argentine provinces of the Mesopotamia from the other two countries...

and joins Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

and Uruguay

Uruguay

Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

. It runs between Puerto Unzué, near Gualeguaychú, Entre Ríos Province

Entre Ríos Province

Entre Ríos is a northeastern province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires , Corrientes and Santa Fe , and Uruguay in the east....

, Argentina, and Fray Bentos

Fray Bentos

Fray Bentos, the capital of the Río Negro Department of western Uruguay, is a port on the Uruguay River. It is close to the border with Argentina and about due north of Buenos Aires.-History:...

, Río Negro Department

Río Negro Department

The Río Negro Department is an administrative division of Uruguay located in the west of the country. It has 53,989 inhabitants and an area of 9,282 km² . Its capital is Fray Bentos.-Geography and climate:...

, Uruguay, with a total length of 5,966 meters (3.7 mi) (4,220 meters (13,845 ft) in Argentine jurisdiction and 1,146 meters (3,760 ft) in Uruguayan territory).

Studies for the construction of a bridge over the Uruguay River were started in 1960 by a joint commission, which decided that the best place for it would be between Puerto Unzué and Fray Bentos. In 1967 the two countries signed an agreement ratifying the location, and in 1972 the construction contract was awarded to the International Bridge Consortium (Consorcio Puente Internacional), setting the cost at $

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

21.7 million , then adjusted upwards.

The bridge is named after José de San Martín

José de San Martín

José Francisco de San Martín, known simply as Don José de San Martín , was an Argentine general and the prime leader of the southern part of South America's successful struggle for independence from Spain.Born in Yapeyú, Corrientes , he left his mother country at the...

, a major figure in the struggle for independence in Argentina, Chile and Peru. It was officially inaugurated on September 16, 1976. It was opened for public use and the next day it started functioning under a toll

Toll bridge

A toll bridge is a bridge over which traffic may pass upon payment of a toll, or fee.- History :The practice of collecting tolls on bridges probably harks back to the days of ferry crossings where people paid a fee to be ferried across stretches of water. As boats became impractical to carry large...

regime.

See also