Building More than Bridges: The Muregeya Trail Bridge
Just as the Muregeya River snakes through the Rwandan countryside, this journey started with a few twists and turns
We are excited to share details of our 2024 volunteer mission to Rwanda with Bridges to Prosperity (B2P). Our team of 10 engineers from TYLin and fellow Sidara Collaborative partners, Dar and Introba, prepared for months to build the Satura Trail Bridge in Nyabihu. However, one week before the build, landslides rendered the site unsafe. B2P quickly reassigned the team to the Muregeya Trail Bridge, a hybrid suspension bridge in the Rubengera community of Karongi. However, all of our team’s advanced construction planning and scheduling were no longer applicable. With just days to review and prepare new plans, our construction leads were under immense pressure. Luckily, the TYLin colleagues who constructed B2P’s first-ever corporate-sponsored hybrid suspension bridge in 2023 were excellent resources, sharing lessons learned.
With new plans, our team headed to Rwanda, ready to build a 377-foot bridge across the Muregeya River, a deadly obstacle for local communities during monsoon rains. The new bridge will provide year-round access for over 2,500 people, connecting farmers and locals to markets, communities, and the Kivu Belt road while ensuring children safe passage to school.
Hybrid Design to Overcome Challenges
Upon arrival, our team was met with a broad, active riverbed with steep banks. It was clear the hybrid suspension bridge design would address the onsite elevation differences while its great length would resolve the erosion challenges that had destroyed a previously constructed bridge. The hybrid design features a concrete abutment on one side and a steel tower with a concrete footing on the other. Steel deck panels over a steel crossbeam are suspended by steel rebars fabricated onsite. The concrete abutment was complete, but with no temporary crossing of the strong flowing water, a team of B2P engineers and local workers began construction from the abutment side of the river while our team and community volunteers worked from the suspension side. Each group launched the crossbeams from their respective sides to meet in the middle.
One Team, Three Companies
From the start, the volunteers from TYLin, Dar, and Introba, with their varied strengths, skills, and ideas, created a seamless partnership. Three B2P engineers supported our team, along with two Rwandan team members who spoke the local Kinyarwanda language. These two people greatly enhanced the ease of communication with the 30 to 40 local workers. The team attributes an intense level of commitment from each team member as crucial to overcoming obstacles.
A Community’s Warmth
Conquering construction-related challenges was professionally fulfilling, but it was the warmth and hospitality of the locals that had the greatest impact. They were eager to get to know our volunteers, welcomed them with open arms, and went above and beyond to teach words in their native language and share Rwandan songs and dances. The community greeted and cheered the team each day as they trekked to and from the bridge site. In the evenings, children drew pictures and played games with our volunteers. Everyone joined together on the final day before the bridge’s inauguration for a celebratory barbecue. Our volunteers came away from the experience deeply appreciating the strength, dedication, and kindness of the Rwandan people.
Inspiring Future Builders
The day before inauguration day, the team visited a local school to lead a bridge-building activity. Four students constructed miniature bridges from popsicle sticks and tape before testing the structures’ strength during an engaging student assembly. The structures easily withstood the weight of marble-laden cups and had to be further tested with rocks gathered at the school. Afterward, the students charmed their new friends with dances and invited them to a physics class.
A New Perspective
The bridge inauguration was marked with great community fanfare, with many dressed in vibrant colors, symbolizing a brighter future. For our volunteers, the impact of the joyful singing voices, exuberant clapping, and prancing and dancing across the bridge is indescribable. Our team overcame physical exhaustion and technical challenges, but at that moment, everyone was united by the shared purpose of connecting two sides of a river and by the bonds formed that make them feel like family.
The day signaled the end of a journey and a new chapter for the Rubengera villages. This experience and the Muregeya Trail Bridge are examples of what can be achieved when people collaborate. They remind us that even the most challenging detours can lead to a future filled with hope.
We look forward to partnering with B2P in 2025.
Until then, we invite you to experience the sights, sounds, and emotions of the Muregeya Trail Bridge experience.