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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources/san-juanico-bridge-sta-rita-sm.webp" alt="San Juanico Bridge" />
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(The San Juanico Bridge)
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The San Juanico Bridge is part of the Pan-Philippine Highway (also known as the Maharlika Highway).  Its longest length is a steel girder viaduct built on reinforced concrete piers, and its main span is of an arch-shaped truss design.  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.
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A project of the Marcos administration, the  construction 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.
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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-3/sjb-1.webp" alt="Opening of San Juanico Bridge" />
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(First Lady Imelda R. Marcos cuts the ribbon to mark the opening of the bridge. Julio Cardinal Rosales,                     the President Ferdinand E. Marcos, Mrs. Cristina Ford, and other guests look on.)
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Construction of the bridge began in 1969 over the San Juanico Strait from Cabalawan, Tacloban City in Leyte to the municipality of Santa Rita, Samar. The bridge was completed four years later and was inaugurated on July 2, 1973, coinciding with the <a href="https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/2454/today-in-philippine-history-july-2-1929-imelda-romualdez-was-born-in-san-miguel-manila" class="news_link">birthday of then First Lady Imelda Marcos</a>.
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The San Juanico Bridge is considered one of the most beautifully designed bridges in the country.
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Source:
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<ol class="article-sources">
<li>
Philippines News Agency archives
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<li>
Photo:  Wikipedia Commons
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July 2, 1973: San Juanico Bridge was inaugurated