Groundwork done for Sunrise Estate bridge, construction to begin late July

The groundwork has been done and soon actual construction of the new Sunrise Estate bridge will commence.

“The site has been prepared,” explained Ward 101 councillor Dalu Cele.

“The construction work will begin in the next two weeks [late July]. The contractor has asked the fibre, water and power services to be moved away from the bridge so that the services are not disrupted during construction.”

The bridge, which was the only connection between the retirement village and the outside world, was washed away in flash floods last December, but for years before that it had been considered unsafe.

“Over the past five years, I have been assisting to escalate their complaints about the deteriorating state of the only bridge that connected the estate to other roads in Northwold. The Johannesburg Roads Agency [JRA] has been dragging its feet for many years in terms of addressing the dangerous state of this bridge – before it was washed away by the flash floods.”

This could have been a problem if anyone at the retirement village had an emergency and needed urgent care at a hospital.

Cele said he had organised with JRA to conduct an investigation of the bridge two years ago, which found it in a dangerous state and needing to be replaced.

JRA spokesperson, Lucia Mhlanga said the entity had planned to commence reconstruction of the bridge in March this year, but the design and procurement processes took longer than expected.

“Construction has since commenced and the duration of the project is eight months and the planned completion date is February 2022. However, given the critical nature of the
bridge to the old age home, the JRA is exploring ways to shorten the project’s duration,” she said.

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Sunrise Estate Bridge finally to be rebuilt after flash floods in December