San Juanico Bridge

San Juanico Bridge is part of the Pan-Philippine Highway and stretches from Samar to Leyte across the San Juanico Strait in the Philippines. Its longest length is a steel girder viaduct built on reinforced concrete piers, and its main span is of an arch-shaped truss design. With a total length of 2.16km, it is the longest bridge in the Philippines spanning a body of seawater. The bridge was dedicated to Ferdinand Marcos' wife, Imelda Marcos.The bridge was slightly damaged by Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013 but was quickly repaired.ConstructionThe Philippine government's project of the $21.9 million-dollar bridge was contracted to the Construction and Development Corporation of the Philippines (now the Philippine National Construction Corporation), which together with Japanese engineers conducted studies and designed the actual project under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos. Construction commenced in 1969 over San Juanico Strait from Cabalawan, Tacloban City to the municipality of Santa Rita, Samar, and was completed in 1973.Economic benefitsConnecting Tacloban City on the Leyte side and Santa Rita town on the Samar side, the bridge offers many picturesque views, especially of the San Juanico Strait with its thousand whirlpools as well as the islets of the two provinces on the strait. It is approximately 10 minutes from downtown Tacloban City and is accessible by passenger jeepney, bus, motor cab or private vehicle. The bridge has 43 spans and medium-size boats can pass beneath its large main arch, the top of which rises 41 meters above the sea.