New Demerara River Bridge remains safe, contractor to fix waviness of road

Last Updated on Monday, 15 December 2025, 20:54 by Writer

The Ministry of Public Works on Monday sought to assure Guyanese that the Bharrat Jagdeo Demerara River Bridge (BJDRB) is safe as there is no abnormal settlement of the structure’s foundations, but a section of the road that meets the bridge has a defect and would be fixed.

“All monitoring data indicate that the bridge structure remains safe, stable, and fully reliable for public use,” the ministry said in a statement.

Public works minister Juan Edghill visited the bridge on Monday and pointed to a cracked area, stressing that it is the road that is leading to the bridge.

“Where I am standing here, where you’re seeing this defect in the asphaltic work, it is not even the bridge. This is the road to the bridge,” he said on a Facebook Live post.

Mr Edghill, on the advice of technical experts who accompanied him on a visit to the BJDRB, said those cracks were caused by “movement in the asphalt.”

He said that defect would corrected.

The public works minister said after the concrete girders were installed, they were asphalted and so the defects on the surface do not mean that the bridge is “failing”. “In construction and the building of roads, this is not unusual,” he added.

In the written statement, he said the pavement undulation observed near the east approach bridge abutment has been attributed to the specific characteristics of that transition zone, where the road embankment fill interfaces with the concrete abutment structure.

“Differences in material properties between the sand fill and the concrete structure have resulted in varying settlement behavior, leading to a temporary elevation difference that manifests as pavement undulation,” the public works ministry said.

The ministry said the contractor has been instructed to carry out remedial works shortly to restore a smooth and comfortable driving surface.

The public works ministry said regarding the pavement undulations observed on the side span of the main bridge, technical investigations revealed that those irregularities are limited to localized surface flatness variations arising from the asphalt pavement construction process.

“Importantly, this condition affects only the pavement surface layer and does not compromise the structural integrity or load-bearing capacity of the bridge,” he added.

The ministry says it remains fully committed to the professional and responsible management, monitoring, and maintenance of the bridge and its ancillary facilities, ensuring the highest standards of public safety and travel comfort.

The ministry’s reaction came two days after Chairman of the Vigilant Political Action Committee (VPAC), Dorwain Bess had raised concerns about the integrity of the US$260 million bridge that was declared open on October 5, 2025.