Temporary fix to Stanleytown Bridge; new structure being designed – Edghill

Emergency works on the Stanleytown Bridge, West Bank of Demerara (WBD), were completed early Monday morning and traffic flow has resumed as per normal.

However, these much-needed repairs are only a temporary fix.

“(The repairs were done) to ensure the integrity of the bridge while traffic continues to proceed” Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill told the News Room on Monday.

And since then, all vehicles up to those weighing 60 tonnes were allowed to use the roadlink.

In a statement on Sunday, the Ministry of Public Works, announced that the Stanleytown Bridge will be closed for a period of three hours- from 11:00 PM Sunday to 02:00 AM Monday.

The closure, the Ministry said, was to facilitate the installation of a steel structure after the bridge showed signs of dilapidation.

“We built an entire steel structure that reached from one abutment to another abutment so that the pressure would not be on the current slabs that are there that were broken,” Edghill explained to the News Room.

Though the bridge is now open to traffic, Edghill said that the fix is only temporary.

In fact, he noted that the Ministry is currently in the process of designing a new structure which likely see a four-lane bridge being built to replace the existing structure.

“It’s temporary. We would have to build a new bridge.

“The Ministry is now designing a new bridge which will suit the future needs of that corridor which would include possibly a four-lane bridge,” Edghill told the News Room.