Queen Juliana Bridge - Willemstad, Curacao
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Raven
N 12° 06.678 W 068° 55.915
19P E 507408 N 1338861
The Queen Juliana bridge is a four-lane road arch bridge crossing the St. Anna Bay in Willemstad, the capital of Curacao. It was named after a former monarch of the royal Dutch family.
Waymark Code: WM1027K
Location: Curaçao
Date Posted: 02/10/2019
Views: 10
The Place:The Queen Juliana bridge is a four-lane road arch bridge crossing the St. Anna Bay in Willemstad, the capital of Curacao. Reaching a height of 56.4 m (185 ft) above the waterline at its apex, it is the highest bridge in the entire Caribbean.
The bridge is 500 m (1,400 ft) long and weighs a total of 3,400 tons. It was opened in 1974 and named after Queen Juliana, who at that time was the reigning queen of the Kingdom of the Netherands.
The bridge was built to relieve a nearby century-old swinging pontoon bridge which was the only passageway across the inlet running right through the center of the capital, and which had to swung open to make way for ship traffic several times as day (as it still does to date, but is now only used for pedestrian traffic). Its height was carefully planned to allow any ship in the world of that era to sail underneath and enter Willemstad's commercial harbor of Schottegat.
Its construction began in the mid 1960's, starting on the Eastern shore. In 1967, just as the last section of the first half was being put in place, the entire structure collapsed and plunged into the water killing sixteen workers. The cause of the accident was never determined: some speculate it was metal fatigue, however many suspect fraud was involved with the Dutch subsidized funds in an attempt to build a cheaper bridge. Construction started once again two months later, this time starting from the Western shore.
The Queen Juliana bridge is intended for road traffic only as the wind and motion of the structure would make pedestrian or bicycle traffic far too dangerous. The view from its apex includes the entire panorama of the capital and is one of the highest vantage points on the island.
The Person:From
Wikipedia: Juliana (Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina; 30 April 1909 – 20 March 2004) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1948 until her abdication in 1980.
Juliana was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry. From birth she was heir presumptive to the Dutch throne. She was educated privately. In 1937, she married Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld with whom she had four children: Beatrix, Irene, Margriet, and Christina.
She reigned for nearly 32 years. Her reign saw the decolonization of Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and Suriname and their independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Upon her death at the age of 94, she was the longest-lived former reigning monarch in the world.