ADOMI BRIDGE REOPENS AUGUST 2 (SATURDAY, JULY 26 1b)

THE Adomi Bridge on the Volta River at Atimpoku in the Eastern Region is to be opened to vehicular traffic by Saturday, August 2, 2008.
This follows the completion of repair works on two of the three beams which support the bridge but which developed cracks about six weeks ago.
The Director of Bridges at the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA), Mr Peter Dagadu, who made this known last Thursday, said repair works on the third beam would be completed within a week.
He was briefing some members of the Ghana Institution of Engineers (GhIE) who had visited the site on a fact-finding mission.
The detection of the cracks in the beams compelled the GHA to close the bridge to vehicular traffic from 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon for the emergency repair works.
In the circumstance, motorists now use alternative routes, including the Juapong-Volo-Adidome-Sogakope and the Ho-Denu-Sogakope roads.
Pedestrians are allowed to use the bridge, with some of them carrying their luggage, while others put it on trucks.
Commercial drivers park at both ends of the bridge to connect passengers to their destinations.
The Adomi Bridge, which is a suspension bridge, was constructed in an arc form, with 20 cables holding it from either side and 22 transverse beams supporting it.
The bridge, inaugurated on January 25, 1957, has a span of 805 feet and width of carriage of 22 feet.
The last time an emergency work was done on it was in 2002 when one of the 22 beams got cracked.
As part of the safety measures, only vehicles weighing a maximum of 20 tonnes are permitted to use the bridge after working hours.
Besides, another toll booth has been placed at the Ho end of the bridge to prevent vehicles from stopping on the bridge to pay their tolls.
Mr Dagadu attributed the cracks in the beams to the excessive load on the bridge, technically described as fatigue.
He explained that the bridge was constructed to carry a certain minimal load but the increased number of vehicles plying it and the excess load carried by some of the vehicles had put too much pressure on it.
To address the situation, Mr Dagadu said weighing machines would now be mounted to weigh vehicles and check for excess load and indicated that vehicles weighing more than 20 tonnes would not be allowed to use the bridge.
Besides, he said, the siting of a toll booth at the Ho end of the bridge was an attempt to ease the load on the bridge as vehicles used to line up on it while waiting their turn to pay their tolls.
Mr Dagadu said the contractors on the project, Dorman Long Bridge and Engineers Limited, would arrive in the country in August to carry out a major inspection and repair work on the bridge.
The National Counsellor for Programmes and Conferences of the GhIE, Mr Magnus Quarshie, advised motorists to desist from bribing their way across the bridge with excess load.
He said the bridge was a national asset and, therefore, any activity which had the potential to destroy it must be seen as a disservice to the nation and a drain on Ghana’s resources.