Spring Road bridge: Long wait far from over
The latest update on the prolonged process to reconstruct the bridge revealed further delays to process that could amount to at least another year.
It’s been over a year since the bridge on Spring Road in Weltevreden Park was closed off, following the raising of doubts about its structural integrity.
The bridge was barricaded closed in March last year as it was at risk of collapsing.
The latest update on the prolonged process to reconstruct the bridge revealed further delays to the process that could amount to at least another year’s wait.
Read more here: Structural issues close Spring Road bridge
Ward 126 councillor, David Brand, gave details of the issues. “The delay has been getting a water licence, which is obtained from the Department of Water Affairs and allows work over the water to be done,” he said.
He added that the licence has to be obtained by an engineer appointed by the City of Johannesburg, and this process takes over a year. “Once that is in place, we have to open it [the matter] for public participation, allowing people to make comments and they [the City] would have to go and investigate those comments and see the impact they have on the project,” Brand explained.
He further explained, “ Once that’s done, they will do a traffic management plan and when this process is complete, the plan will be sent to the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) for approval, and then JRA will go out on tender.”
A design for the bridge done by an engineer was sent to the City earlier this year; however, it has not been approved as yet, as the public comments process is still under way.
“The traffic management plan may take two to four weeks and the tender three months (that’s four months). Then the contractor will present a cash flow (budget) and a time period of how long the project will take. The completion date could be 18 months from now,” Brand said.
He also sympathised with the affected residents, as the road closure, together with the pipeline project, seriously affect traffic in the area.
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at northsider@caxton.co.za (remember to include your contact details) or phone us on 011 955 1130.
For free daily local news on the West Rand, also visit our sister newspaper websites
