Traffic backups as work begins on Good Hope Bridge

Apr 10, 2018 News

Demolition of the old Good Hope Bridge

Much-needed rehabilitation work on the Good Hope Bridge, East Coast of Demerara, that commenced last week, is currently ongoing.
The work yesterday, when school reopened after the Easter holidays, led to headaches to commuters.
Senior Engineer at the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Sherod Parkinson explained to the Department of Public Information that the scope of the work includes demolition of the old Acrow Panel structure and reconstruction of a concrete one.
“When we change from the Acrow Panel Bridges to the free stress concrete bridges, there is no disruption to traffic, no maintenance issues, and everything flows smoothly, we don’t expect to have any problems with the bridge in the near future,” Parkinson explained.
A $23.5M contract was awarded to BK International for repairs to the bridge.
Parkinson said these upgrades should have been completed last year along with the Annandale and Lusignan bridges, but there were some challenges, particularly in relation to traffic.
“We thought it best not to run all three bridges at the same time because of traffic issues with the construction of the other two, but because they were in an area where there were more access points to leave and enter the railway embankment, the traffic burden wasn’t felt much by the driving public, but because of the location of this bridge, there seems to be a greater impact on traffic,” the Senior Engineer stressed.
Parkinson is calling on citizens to be patient as the contractor steps up the pace of work to complete the bridge before its scheduled one-month duration.
He stressed the importance of the repairs to the bridge. “It’s best to have this short discomfort to replace the bridge rather than have it collapse and result in the loss of a life”.

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