Project # 035 - Las Vegas Suspension Bridge

Location: Honduras; District of Victoria, Region of Yoro
Bridge Sponsor: The Rotary Club of Midlothian, Virginia, and The Rotary Foundation
Bridge Sponsor: Ross Construction
Local Honduras Sponsors: Victoria Municipality
Local Community Sponsor: The village of Las Vegas
NGO partner: Ayuda en Accion
Trainees: Engineer and Technician from Ayuda en Accion; District Technicians from the Municipality of Victoria
Dedication: James E. Lesnick, MD and family

Bridge name: Las Vegas
River name: Tepemechin River
Bridge span: 62 meters / 203 feet
Population served by bridge: 8000 people

Bridge Story: Las Vegas is a large town just outside of the district capital of Victoria. Its growth has caused their farmers to move to the other side of the river where the land is open and the soils are good. In fact the soils are so good that the best coffee in Honduras grows here! Coffee is their mainstay for 4 months, with the balance of the year being subsistence farming. However, without a bridge to access the coffee and their farms during the annual floods from August to December, the locals take extreme measures to cross. For, if they do not cross, they cannot feed their families.

The Tepemechin river is one of the major rivers of Honduras. It bisects almost the entire northern part of the country. With the construction of a new bridge across the Tepemechin in Las Vegas, coffee and farming will boom, and the locals will not longer risk their lives to cross. In fact, this bridge is needed so badly, that more than 800 of the local men and women have volunteered to help.