New Bridge needed

Ironhorse Brigade Begins Reconstruction of Bombed Bridge
Army Engineers work to rebuild bridge for local Iraqis.
By U.S. Army Spc. Jan Critchfield122nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 18, 2004 — On Nov. 11, a white pickup truck carrying explosives was parked on the Diyala River Bridge, one of three major bridges in the Al-Thawra District.
The truck exploded killing a cargo-truck driver and wounding a dozen others in addition to severely damaging the bridge. The blast destroyed one lane of the bridge and blocked the other with the smoldering remains of the explosion. The bridge was unusable except by pedestrians desperate enough to straddle a narrow passage between the charred truck and a gaping hole in the deck of the bridge, with the murky waters of the Diyala below.
“The thing we want to impress upon the people of Baghdad is that the insurgents are making their lives harder, and this project is a visible sign that (multinational forces) are trying to help them, and help the country move in the right direction,” Capt. Marc Distefano, Company A commander.
“Insurgents are targeting major infrastructure sites, like bridges,” said Capt. Marc Distefano, Company A commander, 20 th Engineer Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. “In April of last year, insurgents put shape charges on the Diyala River Bridge … and destroyed parts of it.”
Working rapidly, Company A had one lane of the Diyala River Bridge open for traffic within 48 hours. A few weeks later, a local contractor finished patching the other lane. That quick turnaround is something Company A hopes to repeat, Distefano said.
“There are a lot of old people, handicapped people, children that are walking across this rubble to get to the other side to get to work, to go to church, to go to school, and it’s severely inconvenienced them, and made a daily chore very dangerous,” Distefano said.
Company A already had $200,000 in renovations planned for the bridge, including $120,000 going into improving the bridge’s deck subsequently damaged in the bombing.
“The bridge constantly needed maintenance,” Distefano said. “Alpha company had been out there at least six times to do minor repairs with the tools we have. The decision was made to replace all the decking on the bridge with a little more sturdy material and lay asphalt over the top so it wouldn’t come apart so much.”
Construction started Nov. 15, and is scheduled for completion by the first week of December. “The thing we want to impress upon the people of Baghdad is that the insurgents are making their lives harder, and this project is a visible sign that (multinational forces) are trying to help them, and help the country move in the right direction.”