Engineer Kwame Bempong warns that the Achimota Bridge is at risk of collapsing due to structural damage, urging prompt action to prevent disaster.
The Ministry of Roads and Highways needs to act promptly to avert disaster at the Achimota stretch of the Accra to Nsawam road, which would affect businesses, motorists and pedestrians.
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The interchange at Achimota connecting Achimota School road to the main Accra to Nsawam road is a ticking time bomb, as the bridge could give in any time. This is the warning by Ing. Kwabena Bempong, President of the Ghana Institution of Engineering (GhIE).
The beams have been hit and the reinforcement have been exposed comprising the integrity of the structure, he explained.
Driving on the interchange, one can also see some exposed expansion joints that forces drivers to slow down when they reach that portion of the road.
Speaking in an interview with The High Street Journal, the highway and structural engineer explained that the menace of trucks overloaded to exceed their height limit striking the footbridge has been happening for some time but the authorities are looking unconcerned.
With this phenomenon, Ing. Bempong contends that the structural integrity of the bridge is threatened waiting for a day it will break down to kill humans and destroy valuable properties.
“We also have another thing that has to do with the height. I am talking about pedestrian footbridges and also vehicular footbridges. It is a time bomb. If I look at the Achimota one, it is a time bomb just waiting one day, mark my words, it is just going to come down if we don’t do anything about it. I don’t want to be a prophet of doom, but it will happen,” Ing. Bempong painted a gloomy picture of the situation.
He recalled a similar tragic incident from 1995 on the N1 Highway near Abeka, where an overloaded truck struck a footbridge causing it to tumble down which led to the death of a pregnant woman walking on the bridge then.
“It has happened before in 1995 on the N1. There was a steel footbridge around the Abeka area. A truck which was overloaded went and struck the footbridge and because it was steel, it came tumbling down. There was somebody on it. I think a pregnant woman or something. That person died,” he narrated.
However, he was quick to add that even though the Achimota Footbridge is made of concrete and not steel, it can stand some pressure but there is a limit to the pressure it could take before it comes down.
He said, “luckily for us, the ones we have currently are concrete, concrete is able to withstand such impact. But if we continue to do what we are doing, one day, one day this is possible so let us be wary and protect it.”
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Ing. Bempong is therefore calling on the authorities to move swiftly and implement measures to address and avert the impending catastrophe.
Source: The Highstreet Journal.
