Photo of the Dacanlao Bridge [July 1914, BPW Quarterly Bulletin]

This photograph is part of a series showing mostly construction projects undertaken by the Bureau of Public Works during the American colonial era. All photographs have been digitally extracted from the Quarterly Bulletins of the bureau and processed using graphics editing software to improve quality. It goes without saying that the eventual output of each extract was always going to be dependent on the quality of the original scan.

In its July 1914 Quarterly Report¹, the Bureau of Public Works acknowledged that there were still, in Batangas, a good number of bridges constructed during the previous Spanish colonial era that were still in existence and in very good condition. This was of benefit to the new American colonial government’s thrust of constructing a road network around the province. It would not only save the government time but costs as well. Instead of constructing new bridges, public works only needed to concern themselves with the maintenance of these bridges.

In addition to these Spanish-built bridges, during the American colonial period up to 1914, the government had already constructed a total of “204 additional bridges and culverts of steel or reinforced concrete, with a total span of 516 meters and a valuation placed at ₱315,976.00.”

Among these newer American-built bridge was the Dacanlao bridge between the municipalities of Calaca and Balayan but closer to the former. It was described as “an excellent example of an American truss highway bridge.” This bridge was built in 1908 and cost the Bureau of Public works a total of ₱32,000.00. Its length was 43.9 meters. A photo of this bridge is show below.

¹ “Bureau of Public Works Quarterly Bulletin, Volume 2 No. 4,” compiiled by C.A. Tansill, published July 1914 in Manila by the Bureau of Public Works.