Demerara Harbour Bridge undertook major enhancement in 2023 – Min. Edghill

As work continues on the construction of a new Demerara River Crossing to promote greater connectivity and mitigate traffic woes, continuous efforts have been made to ensure the structural integrity of the current Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) is maintained.

During last year, critical maintenance works were successfully executed to bolster the bridge’s durability and facilitate the growing demand for road and river traffic.

These include the installation of the new retractor span (Span 9), the rehabilitation and installation of 95 buoys, the rehabilitation of 56 pontoons, replacement and installation of 239 lengths of wire ropes connected to the buoys, and 204 anchor blocks.

Additional works included the replacement of 9 transom beams, 77 end posts, and 175 lengths of anchor chains.

“A lot of this work that they are doing is to keep the bridge so that the thousands of people that depend on that bridge every day, can get to work and get home,” the minister said.

Meanwhile, a total of 4,035 vessels transited the retractor span, 49.8% of these vessels transited northbound while 50.2% accounted for southbound transits.

“With tidal conditions, with prudent management, and collaboration of all the stakeholders, we have been able to put in place systems that the bridge is only opened to marine traffic when traffic is at a low, and during the peak hours, we continue to serve,” minister Edghill noted.

The DHB has also been playing its role in building human capacity and providing quality education after being licensed as a Master Apprenticeship Training Centre in January.  In October 2023, training commenced for eleven young adults in the field of welding and fabrication.

The two-year apprenticeship programme will see the persons undergoing training both in a practical and theoretical learning environment, after which they will be formally integrated into the working environment.