City engineer questions safety of temporary bridge
Earlier in this newscast we reported on relations between the City Council and Central Government. One point of contention not mentioned in that account was that involving a bridge… or more accurately, two bridges. Patrick Jones reports.
The wooden structure was erected over the Haulover Creek to divert pedestrian traffic while the historic Swing Bridge undergoes months of repairs.
Colwin Flowers, City Engineer
“Major works starting with the turn-table underneath. That is the center support for the bridge. There are tracks that will be replaced… Totally worn… There are rollers that are egg shaped, that are in need of replacement. The bottom portion of the two hog-packed members, those are the same beams that divide the vehicle from the pedestrian. The lower portion of that will be replaced and also all the transverse members underneath that run with the river, those too will have to be replaced.”
But before those repairs are undertaken, the City Council has sounded alarm bells saying there are design flaws that make the temporary crossing “unsafe” for the public.
Colwin Flowers
“Some of the faults that are readily visible is the splicing of members that will be under extreme tension once the bridge is raised. Those are four members that run at an angle that will have to keep the bridge up. Also the pulley system instead of being bolted on with bolts with known sheer stress, they are just welded on. A third would be that a ratchet system has not been installed that can lock the bridge in any position in case the cable system should fail.”
Then there is the turning mechanism, which is easily accessible by the public. The City Council has gone on record as saying that it will not assume any legal liability for accidents that may occur as a result of the bridge being opened to public use without the necessary adjustments.
Colwin Flowers
“In structural analysis you have to know the strength of your members and when you start corrupting them by welding dissimilar metals and metal with lesser strength, the engineer can no longer predict. Members that are under compression will tend to want to buckle. And if you have welding as a part you have a weak point where buckling will take place.”
But it looks like the protest from the Council did not fall on deaf ears. As the May twenty sixth deadline for opening the bridge approaches, engineers are taking a second look at the bridge and are addressing some of the concerns of the City Council.
Patrick Jones
“The Ministry of Works estimates that it will take approximately eight months to rebuild the Belize City Swing Bridge. That includes one of the busiest months of the year with the September Celebrations. The city engineer wonders if this structure will be able to hold up to all that pressure.”
Colwin Flowers
“The piles are in salt water. I suspect those will be eaten away, so those will have to be checked a great deal. With the level of swinging operations it is very difficult to tell. However, with members that are welded together and the level of corrosion that you would expect at this point, it’s very hard to tell.”
According to engineers in the Ministry of Works, this is the same design that was used, without problems in Dangriga when the big bridge was being rebuilt. But it is the city engineer’s opinion that the two circumstances cannot be equated.
Colwin Flowers
“The difference here is that we have a bascule situation. We have a section that will swing regularly for vessel traffic, river traffic. And then also that Belize City has lot more pedestrian, maybe ten times the type of volume that we would expect here compared to Dangriga.”
Flowers says that all the headaches now being experienced, could have been avoided, if the architects of the project had drafted a water tight contract in the first place.
Colwin Flowers
“To me it’s simply a matter of putting special provisions in the contract where one, the contractor will be responsible for design, construction, installation, the security of the bridge to maintain pedestrian safety, to have adequate liability insurance and to swing it while he is repairing the Swing Bridge. It doesn’t make sense to give out a contract and leave these provisions out and asking another public agency that is run on tax payers money to pick up that part of it.”
And while the old Swing Bridge gets a facelift, motorists will have to go the extra mile to reach the other side of town. Patrick Jones, for News Five.
The Traffic Department will soon announce its plans for the rerouting of traffic to the Belcan and Bel-China Bridges.
