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The Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) is hard at work repairing and replacing bridges throughout Johannesburg, with an approved budget of R110-million earmarked for bridge construction and maintenance projects for the current fiscal period (2022/23).

Bridges in the City have proven to play a vital role in connecting not only the various regions or locations of Johannesburg, but also the different classes that comprise the City's 13 599 km road network.

Bertha Peters Scheepers, the JRA's Operations Manager for Marketing and Communication says the Bridge Management Programme is a standing budget line item that is prioritised annually.

"It is an ongoing programme in which various bridge projects are carried out. The projects in the programme have a start and end date, but the programme itself is a standing item as part of structural infrastructure asset management and has no end date," says Peters Scheepers.

The JRA's Bridge Management Programme covers the entire life cycle of bridge structures, with various inspections performed at regular intervals (such as five-year structural inspections), which inform the list of bridges to be rehabilitated.

The JRA's Planning Department, which plans for all bridges, is the programme's champion. The JRA Infrastructure Development Department becomes actively involved in development prioritisation based on budgetary requirements and the actual delivery of rehabilitation and reconstruction work.

Peters Scheepers says the JRA's bridge inventory indicates that approximately 1 592 structures can be classified as bridges, major culverts, or lesser culverts. A total of 935 structures are built over water courses, with 657 constructed over roads or railway tracks.

"About 902 bridge structures were inspected during the fiscal year 2016/17. The analysis was carried out using the Bridge Management System and scheduled prioritisation of bridges in accordance with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR) Struman Bridge Management System," she explains.

The Roads Asset Management Systems Unit (RAMS) identified 68 bridge structures with an estimated R1.28 billion budget requirement to rehabilitate or construct from the 902 structures.

The entity's assessment of bridges revealed that a number of structures had reached their design lifespan, with the majority being older than 50 years. They required repairs and rejuvenation, including the removal of sediment from around the bridge abutments caused by swiftly moving water, which greatly contributes to the structural integrity being compromised.

The projects covered for the fiscal year 2022/23 include three that are in the consultant procurement stage, a bridge panel at BEC, and three that are being implemented through a service-level agreement with the Johannesburg Development Agency (of which two projects are already at completion stage).

"The main objective of the programme is to ensure effective structural infrastructure asset management and maintenance. The programme is required to ensure that bridges in poor condition are repaired as soon as possible to avoid collapse. The goal is to ensure network mobility by keeping bridges in serviceable condition," Peters Scheepers explains.

Issued by the City of Johannesburg