Team & Mission

Construction is complete on the Karuruma Trail Bridge in Rwanda’s Kamonyi District, where Thornton Tomasetti volunteers helped bring safe, year-round access to more than 8,600 residents in two rural communities.

Partnering with nonprofit Bridges to Prosperity, our 2025 Thornton Tomasetti Gives Back service team completed work on a 60-meter (nearly 200-foot) suspended cable bridge spanning the Akaruruma River. For the villages of Kigusa and Kintama, the river presents a significant obstacle—especially during the rainy season, when flooding can cut off access to schools, health care, markets, and other essential services.

The Thornton Tomasetti volunteers also had the opportunity to visit a local school and meet some of the children who will directly benefit from the bridge’s completion.

Karuruma Trail Bridge

The Karuruma Bridge is a suspended cable bridge, with a lightweight, efficient design well-suited to the region’s rugged terrain. The design resembles a rope bridge but offers far greater stability and rigidity thanks to its steel cables and stiff deck.

The bridge was designed to be built and maintained with human power alone, making it ideal for our remote location and limited access to heavy equipment. Just one example of how the team is using locally available materials in innovative ways: cable saddles are fabricated from repurposed car wheel hubs. 

The bridge was successfully completed ahead of schedule and inaugurated on May 29, 2025.

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