The river continues to flow beneath, ships continue to request passage, and the floating bridge, which arrived for a short period, has not yet completed its journey almost thirty years later
SANTO DOMINGO – On the Ozama River, there is a structure that has been performing a task for almost three decades, a task for which it was initially only granted three months. It is the pedestrian bridge used daily by hundreds of vehicles and thousands of people crossing from one bank to the other.
The “tun-tun!” sound as it falls into one of the cracks, the sight of the water lilies coming down the turbid river, the fishermen leaning against the railing, sometimes the ferry leaning against the port and “Moreno” asking for 50 pesos from the drivers when there is a traffic jam, is part of the landscape that surrounds the passage between the east and west banks of Santo Domingo, by the floating bridge.
That bridge, which doesn't even have a name, bears the weight of traffic from a city that never stops growing, and when a ship needs to pass, it opens its wings, like a waterfowl, to let it continue its journey. Then it closes again, and the traffic resumes.
In almost thirty years, several generations of drivers have gone back and forth on that platform; many have crossed to one side and the other for the first time on that road and have incorporated it into their regular routes.
For many, crossing it is an everyday operation, just another part of the journey between Santo Domingo and Villa Duarte, and few of those who cross it know the history of its installation to understand what it means to find it closed.
However, their presence has an explanation that dates back to 1998, during the first government of Leonel Fernández, as revealed by the newspaper archives.
Press reports say that at that time the Juan Bosch bridge was being built, while the Duarte bridge needed work that would force a temporary interruption of its service.
The city could not have its main crossings over the Ozama compromised at the same time, and a solution had to be found while the problems of the other bridges were being resolved.
The solution was to install two joined metal barges with an asphalt surface for vehicular traffic. The structure, attributed to Samuel Conde & Associates, connected Avenida del Puerto, near Puerta de Don Diego, with Avenida Mirador del Ozama in Villa Duarte, and its purpose was temporary for three months
The city continued its course, the Juan Bosch and Duarte bridges continued under construction and repair, while the floating bridge did its thing.
The Juan Bosch Bridge was inaugurated in December 2001; the Duarte Bridge continued to provide service and the other bridges over the Ozama River continued to be part of the road network that connected both sides of the capital.
And the "provisional" structure remained in place, year after year, until it became one of the regular crossings between both shores, even almost thirty years later.
Its permanent status was never announced, it was never given a name. It was enough that it continued to function and that the city continued to need it. Time did the rest.
A life between two shores
The floating bridge has a structural condition that distinguishes it from the other crossings over the Ozama River: it does not rest on a succession of piers anchored to the riverbed, like conventional bridges, but its barges remain on the water and move with it.
This feature, which allows it to function, also determines much of its routine: when a vessel needs to navigate up the Ozama River, the bridge must be opened. Traffic is interrupted while the maneuver is carried out, which can last for hours.
For drivers, the passage of a boat then becomes a pause that does not depend on the number of vehicles or the skill of the driver because the river has priority.
Flooding also disrupts its operation. In October 2025, the Ministry of Public Works ordered its temporary closure to allow water hyacinths and organic material carried by the river due to rain and pollution to pass through.
On other occasions, the interruptions have been due to the transit of vessels or maintenance work, but the truth is that it is an infrastructure that, despite its exceptional nature, has ended up meeting a daily demand.
The figures help to understand the scale that this service reached. A count by the National District City Hall in 2014 recorded 14,793 vehicles heading towards the National District and 17,430 in the opposite direction. Estimates published in 2025 placed the flow at around 35,000 vehicles per day.
The bridge, which was intended to resolve a contingency, ended up being incorporated into a much wider traffic flow than anticipated when it was installed; it is now part of the daily connection between communities that need to travel for work, study, commerce, and other activities.
Even iron takes its toll over time
The passage of time, water, continuous use, and exposure to the elements have left their mark on the structure. In February 2016, an inspection carried out by Ciramar Shipyards, at the request of the Dominican Republic Navy, detected damage to a large number of the barges and recommended restricting the passage of heavy vehicles until they were replaced.
The then Minister of Public Works, Gonzalo Castillo, acknowledged the need for greater maintenance, and the following year, the appearance of cracks caused a slight subsidence and forced the temporary closure of the passage.
The situation reopened the discussion about the future of the structure and in 2017 the acquisition of a new barge was announced, for an amount that reached up to US$10 million in press reports, but the replacement did not materialize and the bridge continued to be crossed by people night and day.
Budget allocations for its rehabilitation and proposals to replace it appeared in different years. In 2020, the Ministry of Public Works proposed replacing it with a bascule bridge.
In 2023, a definitive solution was announced again, but plans changed, the allocated resources were diverted, and the floating platform continued to operate and receive vehicles. The structure, designed to last only a few months, survived successive proposals aimed at ending its service.
This time, the farewell has a file
After an initial bidding process that failed, the Ministry of Public Works launched a new procedure to build a bascule bridge over the Ozama River, about 80 meters south of the current structure, it was announced.
The new structure will have a fixed section and a movable section, whose arms can be raised to allow the passage of ships, and the solution, which would have cost RD$10 million in 2017, has gone to an awarded investment of RD$4,571 million and an execution period of 24 months.
The difference from previous announcements lies in the progress of the process; at least a contract has now been awarded. Before the Floating Bridge can be removed, the work must be completed, testing carried out, and the new connection put into service.
The city usually gets used to its works and then incorporates them into the landscape, until a new intervention changes what seemed permanent, even if it was born for a temporary period, like the floating bridge.
“Moreno”, born and raised in Villa Duarte, extremely thin, with tanned skin and large eyes in his dark face, fixed on a point that no one else can see, gets lost inside some tattered clothes that were once a shirt.
Abandoned by reason, amidst the “knock-knock!” and indifferent to the honking, he will continue extending his hand and asking for fifty pesos with a voice that seems to come from afar and at the same time sounds as if he were speaking inwardly.
Probably many “somebody” will have taken the path of that solitary bridge to throw a love to the river, as the bolero says, or to buy from the fishermen, to pick someone up at the airport or to enjoy a sunset from Avenida España.
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