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The early hours of Sunday morning [subs: 22 May] saw the end of the 32-year-old Erasmusrand pedestrian bridge in Pretoria.

The demise of the bridge on Sunday night came at the end of a four-month period of planning on how the bridge was to be demolished in the safest, most convenient and cost-effective way.

“We had to decide whether to close the road to demolish the bridge a bit at a time during the night-time over a three-month period, or go for it once-off and take eight –hours during a weekend when traffic is the lightest,” says Alan Agaienz, project manager at the South African National Roads Agency’s Northern Region.

As no explosives were used, the mechanical method of cutting the bridge up and loading the pieces by crane unto trucks, was an arduous and lengthy process, but one which was successfully executed.

“This meant that the N1 between the R21 flying saucer and Rigel off-ramps had to be closed completely from about 11pm on Saturday until the early hours of Sunday morning,” says Agaienz.

The bridge was damaged early in 2015 by an over-height vehicle, which was travelling in the side drain, and thus was leaning over at an acute angle.

SANRAL worked around the clock to construct a temporary safe route which made use of the adjacent existing Solomon Mahlangu Bridge. The safety of pedestrians and cyclists was improved significantly by creating a walkway behind concrete new jersey barriers as an urgent interim measure.

A tender for the design of a replacement pedestrian bridge closed on 24th March this year and construction of a replacement bridge should start early in 2017.

“SANRAL would like to express its congratulations and appreciation to everyone involved but notably Jet Demolitions (main contractor), G4 Civils (sub-contractor for traffic accommodation), Ndodana Consulting (supervision of traffic accommodation), Gibb Engineers (design and supervision oversight role) and Tshwane Municipality for their excellent services in the execution of this Project.

“Finally a big thank you to all motorists for their patience during the time the N1 was closed,” says Agaienz.

Issued by Meropa