The Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) began operating in 1978 so it is now 34 years old and long past its life span, but it is   still with us because of a massive refurbishing carried out several years ago. It is a vital infrastructure for the movement of people,  goods and services. Therefore at all times it has to be in the best possible working condition and in this regard, those managing the bridge have been doing a good job because maintaining a 34-year-old floating bridge is by no means an easy engineering task.
However, even the newest and best maintained machines, by their very nature, are liable to develop problems at any time without prior signal.
With regard to the DHB, it is not only that it is an old structure, but it has been taking a very larger volume of traffic than when it began operating in 1978. While figures are unavailable, the current traffic across the bridge could be 10 times or more what it was in 1978, and every day the volume of traffic is growing. Therefore, the probability of the bridge developing problems will increase and the frequency of it developing problems will also increase.
So what happened on Monday last should not have come as a surprise and people should not rush to cast blame on those who are responsible for managing the bridge.
However, despite the possibility of the bridge developing problems, no alternative means of transport across the Demerara River has been put in place. Of course, there is the speed boat service but that can only move people across the river and is not safe to operate at nights. But what happens to the movement of goods and services-most importantly food and fuel?
A few months ago, just days after major maintenance work was done on the bridge, it developed problems. Fortunately, this happened on a Sunday and it was only for several hours, yet the problems and inconvenience were enormous. On that occasion, this column had warned that alternative means of transport should be put in place to cater for emergencies, because it was not the first time and it will not be the last time; and worse yet, if the problem lasts for a protracted period. It was also noted for some mysterious reason (s) the Georgetown and Vreed-en-Hoop stellings, a legacy of Dr Cheddi Jagan, was left to deteriorate to the point of becoming inoperable. So today using a ferry in case of emergencies with the bridge is no longer an option as it was in the past.
Unfortunately, it does not seem that we have learnt anything from our experiences because if we had, then another problem mere months after the last one would not have met us being unprepared once again.
Adopting a reactive approach rather than a preventive one has been a management issue in this country for too long. In fact, it seems as if it is the accepted norm.
The President should immediately issue an order that the Georgetown and Vreed-en-Hoop stellings be repaired and become operable once again to cater for emergencies.
This column had also mentioned the need for a long term solution which is the erection of another bridge parallel to the current one and no matter what is said or done, this is inevitable and therefore not an option, so we have to begin preparations for that now because with time the DHB will continue to deteriorate and jeopardize the safety of those traversing it. So far lives have not been lost as a result of problems with the bridge, but that does not mean it cannot happen. As such, we need to look ahead and make preparations for future challenges.