The Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) reopened to light traffic this afternoon after a near six-hour closure due to a barge hitting its retractor span.
The accident had left people stranded on both sides of the bridge and having to rely only on speed boats. Much higher fares were also charged for the crossing.
Prior to the reopening, the DHB had said that it was working to repair retractor span (9) after a passing vessel hit the edge of the span and pushed it out of line, also causing breakage of the connecting end post at spans (8) and (7).
“That caused a slight opening there and no vehicle can be allowed on the bridge out of an abundance of caution, we are working to get this back up as soon as possible, but right now it’s hard to give a specific time,” one Engineer stated, according to a DHB release.
At approximately 11:31 AM, a vessel with the name (Desal 1) with two tugs (Alpha 1 and Chaka) transporting sand was travelling northbound when it hit a retractor span (the edge of span 9) of the Demerara Harbour Bridge, the release said. The hit pushed the bridge out of alignment, causing the breakage of the connecting end post at spans (8) and (7), this in turn caused a transom to be warp (slight opening).
The accident also caused several buoys to burst.
The Corporation’s Management is also in contact with the local consignee of the vessel and Tug & Barge.
Vessels have routinely hit the DHB, causing downtime and necessitating costly repairs.