Jinja's new bridge ready

The New Nile Bridge is substantially complete and awaiting to be commissioned by President Yoweri Museveni in mid-October and opened for public use, the head of Bridges and Structures Construction at the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), Eng. Lawrence Pario has revealed.

Eng. Pario says this after conducting a bridge structural health monitoring system on Friday at the new Nile Bridge in Jinja that included Static load testing and Vibration test on the cables.

The lorries were put on either side of the road to test its strength. Photos by Donald Kiirya

He said they did the tests to ensure that the bridge is working normally before its commissioning.    

"We have loaded the dual carriage way in the centre span of the bridge with thirteen trucks on each side which are full of marrum as we carry out the Static Load testing. We have also loaded trucks on one side to check the load on one lane in case another lane gets a problem like accidents making it impassable for vehicles," Pario said.

Each truck was carrying 25 tonnes of murum and the total of the load is about 650 tones that was used to test the bridge.

 Much of the bridge work is complete

He said that after the Static Load testing, results demonstrated that the bridge can carry the designed load capacity of vehicles that will pass at the bridge, adding that Ugandans and other road users should not get scared that the bridge might break.

Prof. Jackson Mwakali, the deputy resident Engineer said they have already put tarmac on the road at the bridge and they are remaining with marking the roads.

 
He said a few works are being finalised and these include; installation of bridge lighting protection system, bridge illumination where conduits fittings were completed and wiring in progress and connection of the bridge structural monitoring system to the monitoring room.

Prof. Mwakali, who is also the bridge engineer and former head of department of civil and environmental engineering at Makerere University, said other small works include; doing the road markings, installing cameras and installing lights all over the bridge structure.

 A few things are being fixed to make the brideg ready for the launch next month

Morris Odoch, the resident project engineer at the New Nile Bridge, said they have also put sensors at both 69-mettr high inverted Y-shaped pylons that will help them see whether the pylon is moving from one place to the other. Each pylon carries 18 pairs of permanent stay cables.

"We have sensors to sense whether the bridge deck is also moving or not and vehicles that will be overloaded will be detected by sensors and cameras and will be apprehended at the other side of the bridge.

 Sensors have been put on the inverted Y-shaped pylons that will help them see whether the pylon is moving from one place to the other

Odoch further said that construction of bridge access roads on both Jinja and Njeru side are in progress with all asphalt works on the motorised traffic lanes complete and pre-road marking in progress.

He said preparations are ongoing to start on walkways adding that all drainage structures are complete with stone pitching and median U-drain ongoing.  

 Workers are making final touches

Odoch said installation of both precast and cast insitu concrete barriers have been completed. Asphalt pavement on the bridge carriageways are also complete and asphalt pavement on the walkways is in progress. The installation of 360 degrees round camera and street lighting poles are currently ongoing. 

 
He said the New Nile bridge is anticipated to fulfill the following three major objectives; easing transport by relieving traffic loading from the existing deteriorating Nalubaale dam/bridge structure, built in 1954 and it will enhance tourism with addition of this iconic signature bridge in this picturesque location. 

 The bridge structural monitoring room

Japan granted Uganda sh230b to build a new bridge on River Nile in Jinja. It is expected to serve as a major trade route connecting Uganda to the Kenyan port of Mombasa, Rwanda, Burundi, the DR Congo as well as Central Africa.

Before the construction started, as early as 2007, many people had gotten concerned that the old bridge could betray us and break. Then there would be no alternative connection, except using Mable, Soroti and then Karuma, before coming to Kampala.