Demerara Harbour Bridge slated for $10M maintenance works today - Engineer

Demerara Harbour Bridge slated for $10M maintenance works today – Engineer

Sep 04, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – At a cost of $10 million, the Demerara Harbour Bridge will today undergo maintenance works which will help to improve its structural integrity. This is according to lead engineer at the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (DHBC), Troy Halley.

The Demerara Harbour Bridge

In a newspaper advertisement yesterday, the DHBC announced that the bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic for a period of four hours to facilitate the scheduled maintenance works. But citizens should not be alarmed.
Mr. Halley in a solicited comment yesterday revealed that the engineer’s team at the DHBC will today replace 12 connecting posts in the span 16-17 and 17-18 areas of the bridge. The posts, he explained, are very important features since they connect the floating bridge’s spans. According to the engineer, there are 61 such posts across the bridge.
He went on to share that recently, he and his team were able to replace eight junction posts on August 28 and two transom beams during the night on July 3-4, 2021 during maintenance works. The transom beams, he explained, are the major support of the bridge. “These beams are the structural support for the carriageway…these are used for supporting the deck plate of the bridge. The deck plate is the carriage way that the vehicles use to travel over the bridge,” Halley further explained.
Stressing the importance of the maintenance work, Halley said this must be done at regular intervals in order to ensure that the bridge continues to work optimally. He noted too that the DHBC engineers are best suited to conduct the works since they are more familiar with the structure. As such, he noted that the approximately $10 million is exclusively for the materials that will be used during the maintenance works today.
While the works are necessary, Halley acknowledged that it will cause some level of inconvenience to the public. For this, he apologised even as he reminded that, “we are just trying our best to improve the structural integrity of the bridge.”
The Demerara Harbour Bridge was commissioned in July 1978. The bridge is known as a major transportation link for Regions Three and Four and other outlying Regions. Being kept afloat by 114 pontoons, the bridge has a horizontal clearance at its retractor span of 77.4 meters to accommodate marine vessels.
From the date commissioned to present, the Demerara Harbour Bridge provides for approximately 18,000 vehicles to transit between the east and west end daily, with a maximum vehicle tonnage of 22.4tons.