By Lisa Hamilton

DESPITE pandemic-related restrictions, many Lindeners actively participated in an interactive Virtual Public Consultation hosted by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MoPI) on Tuesday, through which they discussed the plans for the construction of a new bridge at Wismar, Linden.

The session took place on the Zoom platform in the evening hours, and saw the participation of over 100 persons. Hosting the programme on behalf of the government and its stakeholders was Environmental Management Specialist, Marciano Glasgow. He was joined by representatives of the MoPI, Chief Works Officer, Goeffery Vaughn; Chief Transport Planning Officer, Patrick Thompson; Socio-Environmental Officer, Sherilyn Inniss-Alphonso; and Transport Planning Officer, Joel Flatts.

Representing Politecnica, the consultancy firm hired by the Ministry though restricted travel-wise to Italy, was Team Leader, Francisco Reina and Social Specialist, Valentino Shal.

Politecnica was contracted to conduct a pre-feasibility study, and to present design options, both alternative and preferred, for the construction of the new bridge. These were presented in PowerPoint presentation by Reina.

It was noted that the proposed design of the new bridge will likely be located on the south of the existing Wismar Bridge. Reina presented four of the possible design options, and later explained the reason for the preferred choice out of the four. The first design proposes a half-through arch bridge; the second proposes a composite steel-concrete girder bridge; the third proposes a modular girder bridge; and the fourth a pre-cast concrete girder bridge.

It was decided that the latter, the precast concrete girder bridge, was the preferred choice for a number of reasons. It was explained that a multi-criteria analysis was carried out to score the characteristics of each bridge with the highest score receiving preference. Some of the main criteria which were considered were technical challenges for construction, aesthetics, socio-economic impact, vessel navigation on the river, environmental impact, labour impact and cost.

Valentino told listeners that consideration was also taken of which design would provide the best opportunity for short-term construction work for Lindeners. “We were interested in finding the design that would give the most economic opportunity to the community and the Region at large and so, definitely, a project of this size and this type of project always creates new economic opportunities, mostly short-term, during the construction of the bridge,” he said.

BRIDGE DESIGN

The bridge design includes two separated lanes for going and coming traffic; roundabouts on both ends equipped with LED street lighting; pedestrian paths on the bridge and the roundabouts; culverts on both sides to support the continuity of the road, rails and a toll booth. It is 210 km long; it has a maximum vertical clearance is more than 11 meters which will cater to the types of vessel which can go further upstream the Demerara River in Linden and will be built to American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Standards. The representatives of Politecnica explained that this means that the traffic lanes will be built wide enough and sturdy to accommodate any kind of vehicle coming from Guyana and Brazil, considering the planned Lethem to Linden highway.

It is estimated that the final phase of the design stage will be completed in a few months while construction will take approximately 18-24 months. The bridge can last for a minimum 50 years and over 100 years if well maintained. During the construction phase, there will no impact to the existing bridge as a bypass road off the bridge on the Mackenzie shore will be constructed next to the Linden Electricity Company to divert from construction taking place nearby.

Once the new bridge is completed, it is still being deliberated upon that the old bridge could be used for non-vehicular traffic; bicycles and pedestrian traffic or persons who are differently able. “The decision has not yet been taken but we’re still quite a few years from that but I am sure that all the suggestions that we get will be taken into account,” Thompson said.

Following the presentations, numerous questions were asked by Lindeners through the Zoom platform, some of which were articulated in the aforementioned details. Other matters raised by residents included the consideration for the road that links the bridge on the Wismar end to be routed through the well-known back road instead of the One-Mile road. The representatives from Politecnica noted that there was provision in the preferred design of how the bridge would be built to cater for the development of new roads as opposed to the One-Mile Road

One resident, Clinton Hollingsworth, also suggested cutting a large enough path for vessels in the old bridge and blocking the off the open ends of the two sides of the bridge with rails so that tourists can visit the structure which remains iconic to Linden. He also recommended the construction of multiple road access to the new bridge catering for the influx of traffic expected from the Linden to Lethem road. Dr. Esther Haynes Tross cautioned about the sharp turns noticed in the design when coming off the Mackenzie end of the bridge. It was later explained that the construction works needed to be kept within the boundaries of the authorized area by the government for construction.
There were also questions about how the environment stands to be impacted with the construction of the bridge

Presently, the MoPI is conducting the Environmental and Social Impact assessment of the project, and as part of the process as stipulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the stakeholders were required to hold additional design alternatives.

Glasglow said: “Our team is actually scheduled to be on the ground — we had some limitations due to COVID – before the end of the week where we’ll be doing water, air quality and also some biological analysis of aquatic and terrestrial species. So, we are taking the environment into consideration.”

This is not the first consultation to take place as one was previously held in October 2019 in Linden where persons were informed about the plans and voiced their preference for the location and design of the bridge, which were all taken into consideration. An Online means will be introduced by the Ministry to cater for the concerns and questions of other residents who were not able to participate in the online meeting.