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Special arrangement in place for heavier vehicles to cross Demerara Harbour Bridge
Kaieteur News – The East Bank Demerara corridor has come alive again after engineers delivered on their promise to get the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) operable again in 72 hours. It was opened on Monday evening to light vehicular traffic and on Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Public Works, the bridge started accommodating 18-tonne vehicles such as canter trucks.
Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill
However, these vehicles will only be allowed to cross under special arrangement. According to Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill, the special arrangement is that the drivers of the heavy duty vehicles will have to adhere to a 32kmph speed limit and only one side of the traffic will be allowed to cross at a time.
In a statement, he noted that “Shift Supervisors, along with the Special Constabulary Ranks will be closely monitoring the transit of vehicles on the bridge to ensure adherence to the special arrangements.”
The DHB had been inoperable for three days after a Panamanian flagged vessel, MV Tradewinds Passion, crashed into it close to 02:00hrs on Saturday during a retraction for the passage of five vessels. It was reportedly filled with fuel for the Guyana Oil Company Limited (GUYOIL) and was the last vessel to pass through from north to south when the collision occurred.
Tuesday night’s traffic on the Demerara Harbour Bridge
The damage was described as one never before seen by bridge engineers and the private sector had even provided support to Government to conduct emergency repairs. Engineers worked 24 hours in a shift system to make it operable again so that thousands of inconvenienced Guyanese could return to their normal lives.
Not only had the crash leave the bridge severely damaged but it had also left one of the DHB staffers hospitalised with a fractured leg and others were left traumatised after barely escaping unhurt. The injured staffer is Andy Duke and Minister Edghill said that he was a Shift Supervisor directing the retraction from his tower on the bridge while his colleagues were below conducting routine maintenance.
Duke reportedly observed that the vessel was not in alignment with the channel to pass through properly and therefore made attempts to avoid the disaster by contacting its pilot via radio. He reportedly called on them to stop and turn around the oil tanker but it kept coming, and at the last moment, Duke decided to jump for safety but ended up injuring his leg.
Speaking with Kaieteur News, Minister Edghill said that a surgery Duke needed was completed successfully on Tuesday, and he is said to be recovering well.
As in relates to the investigation into the accident, Edghill disclosed that it is still ongoing and persons are still being questioned. The ongoing investigation is being conducted by a Board of Inquiry that commenced its work on Monday afternoon.
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