–bypass bridge completed, in use

CONSTRUCTION of the new bridge at Bagotville on the West Bank of Demerara (WBD) is moving apace, Managing-Director of GAICO Construction Incorporated Komal Singh said on Sunday.

GAICO Construction Inc. was awarded a $97M contract to build a new bridge at Bagotville after the main access bridge in the area started to sink.
Besides the bridge’s support beams being damaged due to erosion and heavy rains, heavy-duty vehicles also helped add to the deterioration.

When the Guyana Chronicle visited the project site on Sunday, work on the new structure was in full progress, as commuters utilised the newly built bypass bridge parallel to the old structure. The new bridge is being built exactly where the old one was.
Singh said work on the bridge began on September 21 with the intention of having it completed on or before November 30.

He said the new bridge will be “strictly concrete” with steel beams, and that the concrete piles have already been driven into the ground.
“We have just completed driving two sets of clusters, the north abutment and the north main span section,” he said, adding:
“Today, we actually poured one of the abutments, and by Wednesday, we will pour the second pile cap.

“We are hoping that by the end of next week, we will have all the other piles in position.”
An abutment is a structure built to support the lateral pressure of an arch or span at the ends of a bridge.
The GAICO ‘bossman’ said that once all goes well, by the end of the month, focus will be placed on the surface of the bridge.

He noted, however, that the timely completion of the project will depend on the timely supply of the steel girders, which are being provided by the government.
Singh has a total of 20 persons working on the multi-million-dollar project. “We have two shifts; we start at 4am and finish working at 8pm,” he said.

Ahead of the construction of the new bridge, the company has built a temporary bridge to allow the free flow of traffic. “Around September 16,” he said, “we started a bypass bridge and we finished that within four days to allow traffic to run smoothly. “We also have a pedestrian walkway on that bridge.” The temporary bridge is made of greenheart.