Traffic has been re-routed since yesterday morning from this, the southern side of the Sandy Gully bridge, near Riverton City, Spanish Town Road, Kingston, because its framework is collapsing. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer A SECTION of the bridge spanning the Sandy Gully along Spanish Town Road in the vicinity of Riverton City, was closed yesterday by the National Works Agency (NWA), because of a structural collapse.
A potential disaster was averted as the NWA quickly closed off two lanes conveying west bound traffic in the morning rush hour. Construction of a new bridge will commence in a matter of weeks the NWA said.
FAILURE
Vando Palmer, Communications Manager at the NWA, told The Gleaner that there was a failure in two of the transverse in the section of the bridge that supports its two west bound traffic lanes. The transverse form part of the framework of the bridge.
Mr. Palmer said that, as a result of the damage, a depression has developed that has rendered the bridge unsafe. Because of this, there was a necessary redrafting of plans for the implementation of a new overpass in the area.
"Originally we had announced that we were going to build a temporary bypass before constructing the new bridge. But the CEO (Ivan Anderson) is mindful of construction work that is to take place along the Spanish Town bypass," Mr. Palmer said, explaining that a decision was taken to avoid a long road-work process.
"We should begin construction on a replacement in two weeks as a new bridge was already scheduled to be built under the Maybe-Johnson Bridge Programme," Mr. Palmer revealed. The girders for use in that construction are already in the island.
Motorists using that section of Spanish Town Road are likely to be inconvenienced for up to nine months, the time it will take for the new bridge to be built.
The Sandy Gully bridge on Spanish Town Road, which is actually comprised of two sections, will, during the closure of the damaged section, see its easterly section being used to support traffic going in both directions. During morning peak hour traffic, there will be two lanes for east bound travel and one for motorists going west. This will be reversed in the evenings.
