Inbound lane of Juba Bridge in 2020 | Credit | Courtesy

The Minister of Roads and Bridges has banned all heavy trucks from crossing the old Juba Bridge.

The order was effected on the 31^st of October 2022.

Minister Simon Mijok directed the truck drivers to only use the newly constructed Freedom Bridge.

“I do issue this Ministerial Order banning all heavy Trucks from crossing Old Juba Nile Bridge, all the heavy trucks are hereby directed to use Freedom Bridge with immediate effect from the date of this order, ” he said.

However, the ministerial order didn’t cite the entities implementing the order.

In 2019, a similar order was issued by the Minister of Roads and Bridges banning heavy trucks carrying sand and aggregate from crossing the bridge, but the order was largely disregarded.

The Juba Bridge was constructed in 1972 and it underwent some repairs in 2008.

Since then, the bridge has been undergoing repair of its outbound lane.

Until the Freedom Bridge opened this year, the Juba Bridge was the only bridge across the Nile in the whole of the South connecting the country to the East African region where most of its imports come from.