MerBear Project

The community of Huaraca, Bolivia located 6 hours south of Cochabamba suffered from isolation for over 500 years. During this time community members could not access their schools and other vital resources. A few years earlier four children had died trying to cross the raging river to get to school. 

In 2021, a team from PCL Construction and their family members built a 180 ft footbridge to provide continuous access between the community members and Huaraca. This was the first MerBear Memorial Bridge built in honor of Meredith. 

Residents of the nearby communities of Karpachaca, Jatun K’uri, Quilaquililla, and San Miguel de Sapse, were located on the other side of the river, cutting them off from the Sapse township creating hardship whenever the Rio Sapse flooded. 

In 2022, a team from PCL and Systra volunteered to travel to the township located about 2.5 hours north of Sucre, Bolivia. In approximately 10 days, the team of engineers constructed a new 55 meter footbridge structure, connecting nearly 1,000 local community members to life sustaining services.

The community of Coilolo suffered from isolation 180 days a year due to the Rio Coilolo flooding during the rainy season, severing access to the nearby town of Zudanez. A city where the community members were able to do business, attend schools and attain healthcare.

Using their construction skillsets, staff from PCL and JHL mobilized to the site to construct a new 61 meter footbridge in 2023, setting a record pace of delivering the bridge in just 5 days, providing year round SAFE access. When completed 1,540 lives had been changed. This was the third MerBear Memorial Bridge.

EIA's bridge program, have served hundreds of students from 35+ universities to construct over 100 footbridges  in 12 countries connecting 150,000 community members...

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