…GM says problem to be fixed by 5pm
Traffic congestion along the East Bank of Demerara and the ‘West Side’ is expected to be heavy going into the evening as the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) was forced to close moments ago, due to the need for emergency repairs after a connecting post attached to the bridge, broke.
This is according to General Manager of the DHB Corporation, Rawlstown Adams during an interview with iNews. “I was just informed…[that] a connecting post just broke at Span 31-32 and the situation seriously affects the integrity of the structure so it has to be replaced immediately and the guys are out there replacing it,” Adams said.
He explained that the inspections and changing of the connecting posts are usually done during the retraction periods on a daily basis. However, it is not always that signs of deterioration are visible.
“Normally we would do these changing of the connecting posts during retraction but this one happened outside of that period and we have to intervene immediately,” he noted while highlighting that “these [connecting posts] are metal structures, they can fail at any time, they can show crack and fail during normal operations.”
Nevertheless, the General Manager voiced his expectations that the bridge should be up and running in about an hour’s time (5pm). (Ramona Luthi)
