Inbound lane of Juba Bridge in 2020 | Credit | Courtesy

Traffic flow on Juba Bridge will continue to experience interruptions as maintenance work commences, an engineer has announced.

This is because the outbound lane will remain closed for the next two months to allow repair works to continue smoothly.

According to the Managing Director of Rhino Star Construction Company, the maintenance, which began on Wednesday, is part of the general renovation of the bridge the company started in April last year.

Engineer Peter Atem said one of the lanes has already developed serious problems.

“That is the lane which we did not work on before because the materials were not there,” he said. “But we are changing the old materials.”

In May, Atem’s company said beginning this month, it would close one of the lanes for the two months to allow for maintenance works.

It said the condition of the bridge has deteriorated over time -especially the inbound lane which requires more fixing.

Over the last week, motorists using the bridge have witnessed longer waiting hours of crossing due to congestion. They say commercial trucks and private vehicles, among others, are forced to use a single land for both inbound and outbound.

“The bridge is working one side but we are going to open them shortly on both sides,” Atem said.

“But the real work will start very soon after 10 days and the work will continue for 2 months when our engineer arrives from the UK,” he added.

Juba Bridge, which was constructed in 1972, stands as the only bridge across the Nile in all of South Sudan, at least until the completion of the Freedom Bridge.

The bridge is a lifeline as it connects South Sudan to the East African region where most imports are brought in.

In April 2020, Rhino Star Construction Company completed the rehabilitation of parts of the bridge after parts of the super-structures holding the bridge could not hold heavy trucks or live loads.

Last year’s reconstruction work was estimated to cost $4 million by the South Sudan Roads Authority.