So, I am in a taxi travelling back to work after lunch. The car makes its way onto the Canje River Bridge, then slows down to virtually a snail’s pace all of a sudden. The car I was in was now part of a long line of vehicles crossing this bridge. Before I knew it, a longer line was behind us. A dragline being carried atop a tractor was the reason behind the entire slowdown of traffic. Of course, this is not the first time of the day that a situation like this takes place. There would have been numerous large vehicles passing this bridge earlier and there were bound to be more passing in the opposite direction later.
Now, the Canje River Bridge was built to carry 32 tons. I believe the bridge, that day, was under severe pressure from that long line of vehicles, not to mention the dragline and tractor which led the way. That structure (the bridge) was built in the 1970’s. No major maintenance was ever done to the Canje Bridge in the past years. President Burnham built a massive structure (perhaps one of the only of its kind in these parts of the world) and one that was built with very good materials to last a very long time. But I became frightened that day. I imagined the entire structure breaking apart under massive pressure from the combined weights of all of those vehicles. I wondered how many times the bridge was vulnerable to such a possibility of a disaster. I have seen very large equipment atop of very long trucks passing over the Canje Bridge. This is insane! How can the authorities keep playing with fire? That structure owes us nothing anymore to stay standing strong and tall. Our authorities have not been good at all to caring and maintaining this one-of-a-kind edifice. What would Berbicians do without the Canje Bridge if it were to fall down? Many of us depend very much on this bridge to get to work, do shopping and conduct business in the town of New Amsterdam. Berbi-cians cannot possibly fathom a life without the existence of the Canje Bridge. It has become a permanent landmark with a permanent purpose and value within this part of the country.
Therefore, shouldn’t our authorities do something before the worst happens? For example, on that day I described, shouldn’t there have been a police escort for these heavy-duty vehicles making their way to and fro on the public roads each day? When these vehicles are traversing on the bridge, shouldn’t the police monitor other traffic or even stop other traffic, so that the heavier vehicles can make their way quickly across the bridge and thus allow smoother flow of traffic? How come do we have all kinds of massive trucks and other vehicles on our roadways, while these things are creating traffic havoc, especially on roadways in our towns? It is a driver’s nightmare on Main Street in New Amsterdam on weekdays during the rush hour in the mornings and afternoons. Dozens of vehicles block this entire roadway from north to south. Every-body’s trying to get to their destination. It’s a chaotic scene. Maybe the Traffic Department here needs to work out alternative routes during these rush hours.
It looks like we don’t have enough roads anymore in Guyana to accommodate the vehicles that are coming on the scene each day.
Yours faithfully,
Leon Jameson Suseran
