The Ministry of Public Works allowed yesterday for the first time regular traffic over the newly installed 500 meter floating bridge over the Ozama River. The bridge is the most southern of four and provides easy access over the Ozama River, especially for traffic headed to and coming in from the southern parts of Santo Domingo to Las Americas Airport and eastern beach destinations, such as Boca Chica, Juan Dolio, La Romana, Dominicus or Punta Cana. The bridge was built by Samuel Conde & Asociados and will be leased to the state for a year for RD$35 million. The state has an option to purchase the bridge after that period. The bridge will be closed from 10 to 11 am and from 1 to 3 pm to allow for ships to pass. Trucks, buses and horse-driven carts are banned from using the bridge. The bridge was built to permit the partial closing of the Duarte Bridge whose cabling needs to be replaced as part of a major bridge overhaul.
