The Guyana and Suriname ferry service is to resume today following the completion of an emergency bypass which had to be created after the Jackson Creek bridge collapsed on Thursday.

The collapsed bridge at Jackson Creek

Engineer Walter Willis confirmed to Stabroek News early yesterday afternoon that the bypass was ready for traffic.

Meanwhile Work Services Group Rickford Lowe noted that it could take as much as a week for the bridge to be repaired, something which depended too on whether all the parts required could be readily located.

The bridge collapsed after one of the side cords of a truck transporting a dragline became hooked up, causing the vehicle to topple, taking the bridge with it. The mishap happened after four in the afternoon. No one was reported injured but persons using the bridge on foot had to negotiate with care.

Following the accident the ferry service was forced to close, since the bridge was on the route to the ferry stelling and many vehicles planning to cross that day had no choice but to return to the city.

Creating the bypass

A source in the area told Stabroek News that when heavy vehicles of the type which damaged the bridge drove across it, certain precautions had to be taken, but these may have been ignored on the day in question.

The steel bridge at Jackson Creek is the first of three bridges leading to the Moleson Creek ferry stelling.

Meanwhile, the popular backtrack route at Spring-lands, Corentyne, continues to be used; however, it is the ferry service which caters for vehicles and heavy equipment.