…as gov’t re-establishes Bartica/Mahdia road 

The road which connects Bartica with Mahdia has been rehabilitated and is now reopened after more than 30 years.

At the same time, the famous Denham Suspension bridge across Garraway stream along the route in the Potaro/Siparuni region, has been rehabilitated but the bridge can only accommodate light traffic with a total weight of 10 tonnes.

On Wednesday, Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson told reporters that persons can now travel between the two Hinterland towns in less than four hours.

The 111 miles road was a trail used by miners and leads to the Cassandra Crossing and then the Denham Bridge across the Garraway Stream.  “Light vehicles only,” Patterson said, noting that trucks cannot use the bridge.

Works to the roadway commenced in 2017 but were hampered by bad weather as well as the sourcing of materials.

The bridge, which has raised the curiosity of Guyanese since the government started focusing on rehabilitating the roadway, was built in November 1933 by Scotsman John Aldi, a civil engineer and general contractor.

The cable suspension bridge was named “Denham Bridge” after the then Colonial Governor Sir Edward Denham. It is sometimes called “Garraway Stream Bridge.”