AN incident on the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) Wednesday afternoon caused by heavy-duty sand trucks left two end posts on span 17 and 18 broken, causing officials to suspend heavy duty traffic to allow emergency repairs yesterday which left hundreds stranded on both sides of the DHB for several hours.

DHB General Manager, Rawlston Adams told this publication that the DHB was not entirely closed to vehicular traffic but light traffic was allowed and monitored as a result of emergency repairs were undertaken yesterday morning.

He explained that they managed, however, to fully open the DHB to regular traffic after the repairs were completed by 11 am.

Adams added that the repairs were done within one and a half hours and normalcy was restored.

He stated that late Wednesday afternoon, the two end posts supporting span 17 and 18 were broken when a large truck was travelling on the DHB and traffic was restricted to allow a light flow until it was fixed.

Minister of Public Works and Hydraulics, Robeson Benn said he was aware of the matter but the DHB was not entirely closed since emergency repairs had to be done urgently and light vehicles were allowed while large vehicles such as trucks were debarred until the DHB was fully operational to accommodate regular traffic.

He added that commuters were inconvenienced for some hours but it all went well after the repairs were done in a timely manner and the operations were back to normal by mid-morning.

Traffic was backed up for several hours yesterday morning, causing some to fret as it was not ‘business as usual’ since working persons among others were stranded on both sides of the DHB.

(By Michel Outridge)