The Fiji Roads Authority is pleased to advise that the Vunidilo Bridge on Wailoku Road will be open from 7pm this evening (Friday) to light vehicles including taxis and RSL’s.
“This is a tremendous achievement by our whole team”, says Dale Nicholls, the Authority’s acting chief executive officer.
“From the moment we had to make the call to close the bridge, our consultants MWH and maintenance contractors Fulton Hogan Hiways have been working hard to ensure that the bridge was able to be reopened, although in a limited capacity, as soon as possible. We had construction crews working into the middle of the night to achieve this excellent result”.
The FRA is hopeful that by midday Tuesday the bridge will be open to buses as well.
“We need to undertake some more work over the coming few days to be able to achieve this says Mr Nicholls but this will be another important milestone to servicing the communities beyond this bridge. “
“We have posted the bridge with weight restrictions and it is very important that these are adhered to. We have already seen the impact that having the bridge closed to all vehicles has had on the community. We don’t want to see the selfish action of an individual in taking a vehicle across that is beyond the current capacity of the bridge and breaking it says Mr Nicholls, as the impact would be felt much wider than the current situation.”
Mr Nicholls says it is doubtful that the bridge will be able to be opened again to heavier commercial vehicles but the Authority is working towards constructing a temporary low level crossing to accommodate this.
“We still have some technical and environment issues to work through”, says Mr Nicholls.
“The FRA is working towards replacing the existing bridge with a new structure in the future however this will need to be prioritised along with all of the other weight restricted and closed bridges around Fiji and will not happen this year.”
-ENDS-