(Spc. Mike Alberts, 3rd Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs) Soldiers with the 25th Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion helped to reestablish traffic by cooperating to construct a bypass road around the Sahiara Bridge in Tuz Khurmatu, Iraq. The bridge was destroyed by anti-Iraqi forces.
3BSTB Soldiers Build Bypass Around Sahiara Bridge
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JULY 17, 2007
By Press Release, Spc. Mike Alberts

The Sahiara Bridge stands in the middle of the desert miles from the nearest city. The bridge spans a moderate riverbed linking a primary transportation route between Baghdad and Kirkuk. It serves no particular military purpose; Iraqi citizens use it for personal and commercial travel. Still, insurgents destroyed it.
Traffic backed-up for miles. Vehicles trying to traverse the riverbed were stranded, several overturned and countless others searched for alternative routes. Perhaps insurgents anticipated that result. What they couldn’t anticipate, however, was the cooperation and solidarity that resulted between local governments and among Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces.
Soldiers of the 25th Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion partnered with local government officials and elements of the Iraqi Army and Iraqi police to secure, design and build a critical bypass road reestablishing commercial and other vehicular traffic around the Sahiara Bridge, Tuz Khurmatu, Iraq, June 24.
The Sahiara Bridge is located in the Salah ah Din Province which is nestled between the provinces of Diyala to the south and Kirkuk to the north. According to Gov. Abdul-Rahman Mustafa, governor of Kirkuk Province, the bridge is a critical economic link between Baghdad and Iraq’s Northern provinces. The bridge was destroyed June 2 and the fix needed to be swift. Soldiers of the 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion responded.
“We were asked to build the bypass around the bridge in order to restore the economic link between Kirkuk and Baghdad,” said Lt. Col. Bryan Truesdell, commander, 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion. “But this project was a true partnership between Coalition Forces, the government of Iraq and Iraqi Security Forces,” he continued.
According to Truesdell, various brigade elements, Iraqi police and Iraqi army forces provided security at the site before and during construction. To cut, grade and prepare the road 3BSTB Alpha company engineers provided the assault and obstacle (A&O) platoon who collaborated with engineers from the 4th Iraqi Army as well as coalition force engineers from three other elements to include the 618th Engineer Co., 19th Engineer Battalion, 19th Engineer Battalion Headquarters and 105th Engineer Group Headquarters. A local Iraqi contractor paved the road.
The entire project took about two and a half weeks from concept planning to completion according to Capt. Frank Flowers, commander, Alpha Co., 3BSTB. Flowers, a 15-year veteran and native of Hillsboro, Missouri, coordinated assets and supervised the work in the field.
“Our biggest challenge was getting all the necessary people together with the proper equipment,” said Flowers. “We’re a light unit and are limited on the type of equipment that we have. We needed [other assets] to borrow equipment and we were able to get [those assets] from the units [at Contingency Operating Base Speicher] and from the Iraqi Army,” he said.
“The actual road work took about five days which was an accomplishment because of all the equipment challenges and [environmental] conditions,” he continued. “But we all worked together and the result was a very good approximately half mile bypass road.”
Two of Flowers’ Soldiers who participated in the construction were Sgt. 1st Class Mark Beck, of Defiance, Ohio, and Spc. Luis Miranda, of Irvington, Ky. Both appreciated the opportunity to contribute.
“Going out there and doing something for the Iraqi people was a unique opportunity,” said Beck. Beck managed the A&O platoon which was principally responsible for cutting and grading the road. “It was a great feeling to be able to help the local citizens directly,” he said. Beck’s young Soldier agreed.
“The best part of it was that we worked really hard and did the best we could to help out the Iraqi people,” said Spc. Luis Miranda. Miranda operates light construction equipment and spent most of his time operating a bucket loader. “When you think about it, that’s what our mission is all about. We’re here to help rebuild Iraq, and we actually got to go out and physically rebuild a part of it.”
For Truesdell, though, helping the Iraqi people as a joint, cooperative effort had benefits beyond simply resolving traffic congestion.
“I was told by [the governor of the Salah ah Din Province] that this bypass goes a long way in building trust between the Salah ah Din and Kirkuk governments both of whom demonstrated their ability and willingness to work together,” stressed Truesdell. “That’s the other aspect of this. The project demonstrates to the Iraqi people that their governments are healthy and vibrant, and that they are able to work together at the provincial level.”