Commuters using the Berbice River Bridge (BRB) say their lives are being disrupted due to the prolonged closure to vehicular traffic which is being done to facilitate maintenance of the retractor span.
The repairs started on Wednesday and are expected to last until Monday. The bridge has also been closed to marine traffic.
The closure was supposed to last from 9 am to 3 pm and then from 5 pm to 10 pm. However, a source from the bridge told this newspaper that “the work is going smoothly so we do not have to close again at 5 pm.”
During a visit yesterday around 2 pm at D’ Edward Village where a long queue had built up some commuters told Stabroek News that they had been there from 9:10 am.
They complained that the wait was “sickening and frustrating” and that they were not prepared for it.
They said the schedule published in the newspapers yesterday stated that the bridge would have been closed from 10:45 am to 12:15 pm.
According to them, “If the right opening was published then there wouldn’t be a build up. People have other things to do…”
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the BRB, Omadatt Samaroo had told Stabroek News on Thursday that the correct schedules had in fact been published.
Meanwhile he said the defects were observed and the contractors are undertaking the repairs. The defects liability period is not yet up and as such the sections that are being fixed had not yet been handed over to the Berbice Bridge Company.
The CEO said that the main problem was with the acceptor and retractor span and with the control system and the ramps.
The contractors had done some re-engineering and modification after the bridge encountered difficulties last year “but with little success.”
They had also “put in four brand new motors to lift the ramps and did some repairs work on the ramps and reprogrammed the control system.”
Following the completion of the work on Monday, he said the BRB would commence the reliability testing of the acceptor/retract span. They would then conduct a testing of 21 openings and closings to ensure there are no problems.
According to Samaroo, “should there be a failure then we would have to start back from one…”
Some overseas-based Guyanese including children who were waiting at the bridge said they had been travelling for two days and were exhausted. They said the long wait at the bridge was the worst part of their trip.
A few minibus and taxi drivers said the authorities at the bridge “should come up with something better. They should not close for such a long time.”
Some even suggested that they bridge should have at least operated on one lane or should have opened between the 9 am to 3 pm period.
They also said the repairs should have been done during the night “because people have business to do.”
They said too that the ferry should have transported vehicles but this was not the case. The ferry was still doing the “schoolchildren run in the mornings and afternoons.”
Some passengers have been using the launch at Blairmont to cross but “the older folks cannot use the steep stairs so they have to wait on the bridge to open…”
The queue yesterday
