Ugee

The bridge on River Nile at Owen Falls dam has continued to waste to a near-breaking point because government apparently ignored a decade-long, clear expert warning that its lifespan was up and a new overpass needed to be urgently built to convey the fast-growing heavy traffic along the eastern route.

The ministry of Works was informed in writing that the developing cracks on the viaduct were “very serious”, making it usable for only 5-10 additional years.
This means the bridge should have been closed to traffic at the very latest by last year. Works Minister, Mr John Nasasira admitted yesterday that the bridge is “quite old” in terms of its design life but said subsequent separate assessments by a group of UK divers, Associated Consulting engineers and Mott MacDonald’s consultants between 2003 and 2006 showed that the vital overpass could still work with remedial repairs.
“The structural integrity [of the bridge] is still acceptable…It’s not that the bridge is collapsing tomorrow,” Mr Nasasira who is a civil engineer said.
Sir Alexander Gibbs & partners consulting engineers, who did secondary proprietary strengthening system (repairs) of metallic reinforcement of the pre-cast slabs underneath the bridge in 1997, recommended that a new bridge be constructed upstream the site of the current one at an estimated cost of about $44 million.

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