Patch-job La Mercy bridge needed ‘proper repairs’, ratepayers association warned Sanral
Just four months after initial repairs, the bridge has started to deteriorate owing to not being properly compacted or back-filled.
Failure to backfill the flood-damaged La Mercy M4 bridge during emergency repairs in May, has potentially undermined the bridge’s integrity.
Concerns were raised over the safety of the bridge across the Umdloti River after visible dips in the road’s surface began forming two weeks ago.
Damaged during the April floods, repairs to the bridge began in May when La Mercy residents crowdfunded R1-million to get repair work off the ground.
The KZN Department of Transport later continued with repairs at a cost of R22-million, with work contracted to the South African National Defence Force.
But four months down the line visible deterioration has become evident at the bridge which La Mercy Ratepayers and Civic Association (LMRCA) vice chair, Tashya Giyapersad, said was the result of the bridge not being properly compacted and back-filled.
Giyapersad said they had warned the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) of the urgency of the work being completed on several occasions before the bridge was reopened in July.
On November 20, Sanral was informed of the deterioration on the northern side of the bridge and the agency conducted a site inspection last week, which was followed with a temporary patch-job surfacing of the road last Thursday.
But after heavy rain, sunken areas had again formed on the bridge in the same places.
Both lanes are affected, causing motorists to swerve to avoid hitting the dips.
https://www.citizen.co.za/north-coast-courier/200683/no-progress-on-n2-umhlali-and-m4-tongaat-river-bridges-work-likely-to-only-start-next-year/
According to Giyapersad, the engineer involved in the initial repair effort advised Sanral that proper repairs were needed to avoid this from happening.
She said the engineer had warned that road failures would be a regular occurrence until either proper abutments were built, or the bridge was extended beyond the river bed.
La Mercy resident Gillian Hiam said she hoped the bridge would not have to be closed again because its earlier closure had severely impacted residents.
“Many residents who work outside of the area faced as much as a 20km detour while the bridge was closed,” she said.
The Courier contacted Sanral for comment, but media relations officer Zenzele Bam had not responded at the time of publication.
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