Savage Street Bridge, which collapsed in the late afternoon hours of Thursday 17th September 2020 in Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone will be reopened to vehicular traffic by the end of January this year.
Also Read: Sierra Leone begins construction of Goderich-Funkia road in Freetown
Engineers rebuilding the structure have assured that all major work on it has been completed leaving only minor ancillary work, and however they could not give a specific date for the opening of the bridge, the Project Manager, Eng. Patrick Masuba, noted that plans were on to possibly merge its opening with that of the Limkokwing-Regent Road which is slated for the 31st of January 2021.
“That will be determined after consultations among the key stakeholders in the road sector including the Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority (SLRSA), the Ministry of Works and Public Assets, and the Ministry of Finance,” he said.
Constructed in 1959, Savage Street Bridge connects the Saint John intersection on one end and Main Motor Road (Brookfields) on the other end. It is situated on a major route (Savage Street) from the central and east of Freetown to the wider west of the city.
Plans for reconstruction to the rehabilitation of other bridges
Eng. Masuba also revealed that various interventions had been identified for other respective bridges ranging from reconstruction to rehabilitation.
He said that starting from this month, project preparation work will commence which will eventually lead to works on those bridges. These works include among others, the demolition of makeshift tents constructed by people around these bridges. The makeshift tents according to Eng. Masuba had further weakened the already strained structures constructed some 50 years ago.
“ We will continue to engage the Sierra Leone Police and other stakeholders like the Office of National Security (ONS) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to effect demolition of makeshift structures around our Bridges and to punish by Law miscreants damaging our structures,’’ he stated.
