Why does the Amazon River longer than 6,000km without a bridge spanning?

Although the Amazon line stretches from the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean through many South American countries, nowhere to build bridges across the river.

Located in South America, the Amazon River is one of the longest rivers in the world.Its " champion " position is not yet recognized in the world, although a group of Brazilian and Peruvian scientists once announced the Amazon River is 6,800km long, 105km longer than the Nile (6,695km) to National Geographic. in 2007.

Amazon's source is still a mystery to scientists.(Photos: Pinterest).

The Amazon series has a basin flowing through a vast dense forest, with breathtakingly beautiful waterfalls or the world's largest freshwater dolphin . But what makes this river more memorable is What it doesn't have: a bridge.

Who to build bridges for

Starting from the upper Andes to the Atlantic Ocean, the Amazon is the longest river in the world without a bridge . 25 million people living by the river from remote villages to bustling towns in Brazil, Peru or Colombia, have one thing in common: to cross the river to take a boat or catch a ferry .

There is no way across the Amazon, its basin is so big that it almost divides South America in half.(Photos: Pinterest).

Throughout its length, Amazon has no place too narrow or too wide to bridge - during the dry season. But in the rainy season, the river water rises more than 9 meters, and the 4.8km river stretches can turn into 48km in a few weeks. Soft alluvial layers on both sides of the river are constantly falling, riverbeds are often full of debris - including floating forest patches called matupá when it is 4 hectares wide. Amazon rainy season really brings nightmares for construction engineers.

However, the real reason for the absence of bridges is simple: The Amazon basin has very few roads to connect with bridges. In addition to some large cities, the population of dense forests is sparse and the river itself is a highway of people in the region. Macapá, located on the north bank of the Amazon River Delta, is a city of half a million people, but there is no way to connect with the rest of Brazil. If you rent a car there, you only have one direction to drive north, to the French Guiana overseas territory.

Macapá's piers are always crowded with ferry boats.(Photo: AP).

The first bridge

In recent years, water traffic between Manaus, Brazil and the nearby town of Iranduba is congested with crowded ferries. Ferry tickets cost about 30 USD per passenger.

In 2010, the Brazilian government built a cable-stayed bridge between the two cities. Technically, this bridge does not pass through the Amazon's main stream but over its largest sub-river, the Rio Negro. Therefore, this is the first bridge of the Amazon river system, people are very happy when this project was inaugurated. However, environmentalists have no sympathy for Manaus's new bridge or highway project, because these works are the first step to develop Amazon - parallel to deforestation.