– works ahead of schedule as new Span 9 aligned
– incident free amid ramped-up Police presence
By Rupa Seenaraine
Commuters traversing the Demerara River on Tuesday experienced smooth sailing as the 24-hour water taxi operation and a well-oiled system prevented any glitches from occurring as commuters were being transported to their destinations.
The Demerara Harbour Bridge was officially closed for three days on Monday evening to facilitate the replacement of Retractor Span 9 and to effect other critical works on the aged structure, and there is a possibility that those tasks would be completed before the Thursday deadline.
Public Works Minister Juan Edghill was accompanied by MARAD Director General Stephen Thomas as an inspection was carried out at all facilities which were activated for crossings.
All hands were on deck as 78 passenger boats navigated across three routes along the river: Wales to Grove on the East Bank of Demerara (EBD); the eastern and western ends of the Demerara Harbour Bridge; and the permanent Vreed-en-Hoop to Stabroek Market crossing. Water taxis were transferred from the Essequibo route to support this massive effort at the two secondary locations.
Minister Edghill, who was at the Stabroek Stelling, told Guyana Times, “We have the capacity right now to move between 5,000 and 7,000 persons per hour across. One of the boats carries about 30 to 32, and it takes about 10 minutes per crossing, if you do the math. There is no need for panic. Nobody will have long waits. There is no unnecessary buildup of traffic. We’ve been on this since 05:30h this morning, ensuring that we have everything.”
Commuters were seemingly pleased with the systems in place. Many were surprised at the short waiting time to board a water taxi and the orderly exit strategies.
Replacement
After a prompt closure at midnight to commence the replacement works, authorities utilized the tide to their advantage in getting ahead of the scheduled works.
“We’ve had favourable tide in terms of the calmness of the water. The contractor as well as the General Manager of the Harbour Bridge took advantage and did some works that were scheduled for 06:00h at 04:30h. This gives an advantage, because that has worked well,” Edghill noted.
The new $1.2 billion Span 9 was fabricated by a local company, Industrial Fabrications Inc (InFab), and was completed a few months ago. Repairs had to be done to this section of the DHB following extensive damage sustained in October 2022 when the Panama-registered oil tanker MV Tradewind Passion crashed into the bridge and rendered it inoperable for several days. The incident was said to be one of the most serious collisions endured by the 44-year-old metal structure. However, cracks and breakages were evident on the Bridge even before that incident.
“It became worse and more pronounced after the accident,” Edghill told the media.
Throughout Tuesday, the old Span 9 was detached and removed.
The new span, which was sitting in close proximity to the bridge, was set into place and aligned. Some 80 deck plates are to be welded on the surface of the new span, the high span, and on other sections of the structure.
General Manager of the DHB, Wayne Watson, detailed, “The current activity is the merger of the two spans – the Span 10 and the new Span 9 – and alignment, followed by decking and the installation of the ramp and other controls or devices.”
He added that the overall work does not just include this replacement. In fact, $85 million was injected into upgrading the high span, and another $60 million was injected for internal works at several spans. The Bridge Management has utilized the closure to facilitate other maintenance works which would have required closure at a later time.
