USAID/AIRP
BEFORE: Heavy equipment such as mobile crushers, batch plants, and mobile testing labs were brought in under extremely difficult conditions to help reconstruct the Regak Bridge.
USAID/AIRP
AFTER: Tucked away in a remote corner of southern Afghanistan, where there are few roads and almost no infrastructure, a new 120-meter-long panel bridge is opening the way to stability and economic growth for local communities.
USAID, through its Afghanistan Infrastructure Rehabilitation Program, recently completed construction of the Regak Bridge located in the volatile Uruzgan province. Straddling the Shakur River, the bridge was constructed in an area faced with border disputes, insurgency, drug trafficking, and river flooding due to snow melt and rain.
Construction of the bridge has directly benefitted the local population in many ways. While under construction, the project provided positive stabilization impact. Locally hired labor and material purchases provided a significant economic boost to the area.
Completed in December 2011, the bridge now links approximately 70,000 previously isolated villagers, increasing their access to social services, health and education and providing easy access for farm-to-market trade. The single-lane bridge can safely take up to 26 tons so heavy transport trucks can now carry goods and produce to the southern area of Uruzgan province.
Bridging Problems in Uruzgan