Venezuela reopens key bridge a year after collapse

CARACAS, June 21 (Reuters) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez today opened a crucial bridge linking Caracas to the Caribbean coast more than a year after a span collapsed, causing traffic jams and criticism of the leftist leader.

Flanked by thousands of supporters in red shirts, Chavez drove a military Jeep across the bridge that should now reduce the drive from the capital to the main airport and ports from hours to 30 minutes.

Chavez opened the bridge just days before Venezuela hosts the Copa America soccer tournament, easing logistics for delegations and fans from across the continent as they arrive for the region's most prestigious competition.

About 20,000 vehicles a day carrying merchandise from the coast along with thousands of commuters will now cross the roughly 984-yard (900-meter) long bridge that cost 81 million dollars to build, according to state television.

Since the way was cut off in January 2006, vehicles have diverted to a clogged, snaking road, creating headaches for everyone from shantytown residents traveling for work in the city to businesses that faced higher transport costs.

Critics say Chavez, in power since 1999, ignored long-standing warnings that the bridge -- which links two steep hills going up the mountain that separates Caracas from the coast -- was in danger because the hillside beneath it was shifting.

Government supporters blame previous administrations for failing to maintain the bridge.

''It looks like an enormous work (of engineering), it looks beautiful,'' housewife Josefa Alvarez, 48, said of the new bridge. ''I was a full-on beach-goer and I stopped going to the coast since the (bridge) fell.'' REUTERS RKM BST0110