One of the problems caused by the effects of DANA which devastated part of the Valencian Community was that of communications. The Armed Forces took charge of the construction of bridges in three of these locations: Ribarroja, Buñol and Cheste.
The Ministry of Defense indicated that the work carried out by the armed forces in the localities affected by DANA is evolving to adapt to the new requirements of the situation. They carry out cleaning, emptying and mud extraction tasks, in addition to searching for missing people.
But to this are added new capacities aimed at the reconstruction of the area, such as support for infrastructure that facilitates mobility and accessibility with the installation of three bridges by the Military Emergency Unit (UME) and the ‘army.
In one of them, in the town of Buñol, they do it jointly, while the Army will take care of another in Ribarroja and the UME will assume the placement of another in the town of Cheste. As detailed by Defense, the work involves reconnaissance and a preliminary study of the area and the structuring of the work protocol for the installation of the footbridges.
The engineers are already immersed in this new mission, in which they already have experience. The last time they came to the aid of citizens with a similar task was in the Madrid town of Aldea del Fresno, where, a little over a year ago, the force of the water also destroyed three bridges that connected the city to surrounding municipalities.
Mabey Bridge
As there, in the case of Valencia, the Armed Forces will resort to the installation of Mabey logistic support bridges, capable of reaching spans of up to 81 meters, of great resistance and capable of supporting large volumes of traffic, including heavy vehicles. .
They are used primarily on major supply routes, replacing damaged civilian bridges and replacing temporary assault and general support bridges. There are also bridges with longer spans, using fixed piers or floating pontoons. It is also used as an upper deck for damaged or weakened bridges, and is often deployed in emergency response situations due to natural disasters.
This Tuesday precisely, the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, announced that from this Wednesday, 99% of the service provided by Cercanías will be recovered, with part supplemented by the use of buses. The 1% that remains without service corresponds to the town of Cheste, currently impossible to access and in which the Armed Forces will install one of the bridges.
