Traffic woes as span on Demerara Harbour Bridge breaks

Sep 27, 2017 News

Confusion ensued just after 15:00hrs yesterday when the connecting poles at spans 31 and 32 of the Demerara Harbour Bridge broke, resulting in the immediate closure of the bridge to facilitate emergency works.
This left thousands of commuters stranded on both sides of the bridge for about two hours.
The 36-year-old floating structure is the main link between Region Four and West Demerara and more so the nation’s largest county, Essequibo.
Kaieteur News understands that the connecting poles at spans 31 and 32 broke and drove fear into the occupants of the vehicles, pedal cyclists as well as motor cyclists who were traversing the structure.
General Manager of the Demerara Harbour Bridge, Rawlston Adams, stated that a situation such as yesterday’s would cause a section of the bridge to be displaced; but not the entire bridge.
He said that the Demerara Harbour Bridge management issued notices of closure via radio and its FaceBook page.
This happened at peak hour when citizens were travelling home from work and school.
Lines of vehicles stretched on both sides of the roads leading to Vreed-en-Hoop.
This was a nightmare to many who used the bridge to go about their business. Hundreds of buses, cars and trucks struggled to maneuver through the congested traffic which stretched as far as from the public road in the vicinity of the Ruimveldt Police Station.

The traffic build-up on Mandela Avenue

This was the scene on the East Bank of Demerara Public road in the vicinity of Eccles

It was not so difficult for pedal cyclists and motor cyclists who bored their way through the traffic and traversed on pedestrian walkways along the road.
Police Officers were seen standing at strategic points to assist with traffic management.
There were smiles on the faces of commuters when word got around that the bridge was back up.
However, it took quite some time for the traffic congestion to ease.