Vehicle access in and out of Puerto Vallarta from the north was suspended for more than 24 hours after part of the old bridge spanning the Ameca River that links the states of Jalisco and Nayarit collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday, August 31.
New bridge reopens for small cars
As dawn broke, emergency personnel searched for the occupants of a taxi that fell into river, as well as other vehicles they believed may also have been swept away.
Around midday Tuesday, one of the taxi’s passengers, 35-year-old Erika Olivia Martin del Campo Aguila from Guadalajara, was rescued by Civil Protection officers 150 yards from the bridge collapse. She was suffering from hypothermia but otherwise was reported to be in stable condition.
Both the new and the old bridges remained closed Tuesday morning as engineers carried out structural inspections. Engineers had feared that debris from the collapse of the old bridge might have swept downstream and damaged the pillars of the new bridge.
The closure affected thousands of motorists. As daybreak turned, a long line of vehicles began to form in both directions, all waiting to continue their journeys in and out of Vallarta.
Civil Protection officials speculated that the collapse was caused by heavy rains on Monday night.
By Wednesday morning, the decision had been taken to reopen the new bridge to all traffic. Circulation, however, was slow, with only one lane operating in both directions.
To compound the problem, landslides and two further bridge collapses cut off access from the highway between Mascota and Las Palmas, the only other vehicular route into Vallarta from Guadalajara. This road enters the Puerto Vallarta area via Ixtapa, two kilometers east of the fallen bridge, alongside the city airport.
Jalisco Governor Emilio Gonzalez arrived in the port Tuesday morning to personally supervise the recovery work. He told reporters he would ask the State Legislature to release 100 million pesos to jump start repair work on the bridge.
President Felipe Calderon said the federal government would help in whatever way necessary to get the old bridge repaired as soon as possible.
Nayarit Governor Nay Gonzalez suggested that a temporary “Bailey” bridge be installed. One was sent to Tamaulipas recently following the devastating flooding in the wake of Hurricane Alex.
Many people and businesses stepped in to help during the emergency, something Gonzalez acknowledged Wednesday in a public meeting.
Ecotourism Company Vallarta Adventures made its boats available to ferry people free of charge from the Paradise Village Marina in Banderas Bay to the Puerto Vallarta port.
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