Harbour Bridge collision creates havoc in West Demerara

Sep 03, 2019 News

It was all chaos and confusion in West Demerara yesterday as news of the indefinite closure of the Demerara Harbour Bridge, due to an early morning collision of a tug and a barge with the 41-year-old structure, spread like wildfire.

The scene at the Georgetown stelling

There was a mad rush to access speedboats at the Vreed-en-Hoop Stelling in the early hours

Traffic was backed up for hours in sections of West Demerara yesterday.

What would have been for some an exciting day, as many children were preparing to experience their first day of school, and even more were returning to school for the new year, turned into a melee, as hysterical parents rushed about frantically, trying to avoid the massive crowds awaiting river transport at the Vreed-en Hoop, West Demerara Speedboat Stelling.

Pensioners were very aggrieved that they could not reach locations in the city to collect their much needed pension packages

There was hardly any space on the roadways for people to traverse as drivers were forced to park wherever they could, desperately hoping for repairs to the bridge to be soon affected.
School children not wanting to endure the jostling at the Vreed-en-Hoop stelling were seen lingering at the roadsides, since their schools were located in various areas in Georgetown.
Vegetable vendors could be heard lamenting, since they were transporting perishables to be sold at the Stabroek and Bourda Market locations. Some of them opened the backs of their vehicles and attempted to sell in that fashion, hoping to rake in a few dollars, than to lose it all. Pensioners travelling to Georgetown were very saddened yesterday, as they were unable to brave the speedboats to collect their much needed finances in the city.
Businessmen transporting goods to stores in Georgetown, too, were bemoaning the fact that they would lose sales, since many items were too hefty and cumbersome to be transported by speedboats. Of course, the speedboat captains were smiling, since the disruption created a steady flow of traffic to and from the Vreed-en-Hoop and Georgetown Stellings, and of course, maybe doubled or tripled daily earnings.
According to reports, around 00:35hrs yesterday, a drifting barge being towed by a tug, crashed into a section of the bridge, causing it to become misaligned. A car reportedly by a female narrowly missed plunging headlong into the Demerara River when several metal plates on the bridge became dislocated as a result of the collision. The female driver, screaming for all she was worth, was rescued by a minibus driver who it is said, was the person who alerted Harbour Bridge officials about the accident.

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