A mechanical issue with rollers on the retractor span of the Demerara Harbour Bridge was behind the extended time the bridge was closed to vehicular traffic yesterday.
While the bridge was scheduled to reopen at 3 am yesterday, this did not occur until around 7.30 am, Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill said.
Last evening, he explained that as engineers were preparing to realign the retractor span with the rest of the bridge, they observed that the rollers were not functioning.
This resulted in a heavy buildup in traffic on both sides of the bridge yesterday morning.
Major rehabilitation works have been ongoing on the bridge. In May this year, the bridge company announced emergency repairs to rectify defects at spans 9 &10 and other damaged areas of the structure.
In April, the bridge had seen unscheduled closures to facilitate emergency repairs. In late March, Edghill along with a team of engineers and officials from the Bridge Corporation inspected the damage to span nine.
A sum of $890 million was approved to purchase 20 pontoons and rehabilitate span nine of the bridge in this year’s budget.
During 2019 and 2020, barges had crashed into the bridge resulting in extensive damage and massive traffic congestion on both the East and West Bank of Demerara. Since then the bridge corporation was forced to impose weight restrictions and a staggered system to ensure the bridge is at no time overburdened.
