Inbound lane of Juba Bridge in 2020 | Credit | Courtesy

One lane of Juba-Bridge will be closed from tomorrow for forty-five days for repair, the road authority has said.

The Executive Director of South Sudan roads authority disclosed to Eye Radio that the repair work on the bridge will commence Saturday morning.

He said the condition of the bridge has deteriorated over time.

Engineer Kenyatta Warille stated that the inbound lane requires more fixing.

He added that the traffic flow on Juba Bridge will experience interruptions as maintenance work commences.

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

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

The Executive Director of South Roads Authority told Eye Radio that one lane which is coming from Gumba will be closed off completely.

“Tomorrow [Saturday] October 2nd, at 7 AM, we are going to work on rehabilitating old Juba bridges. Last April, we finished rehabilitating the inbound lane,” Warille said.

“Now, we have agreed to bring the export from England and the constructors are ready to take up the work of rehabilitating the outbound lane, the lane leading from Juba to Gumbo.”

“Some of the damage panels will be changed and other light activities on the lane so some of them are going to get replaced as such that lane is going to be closed completely while the repairs are going on.”

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

It 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.