President Ramaphosa and the Barbara Creecy, the Minister of Transport visited the Mbokodweni River Bridge on Monday.

The South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited (SANRAL) has announced plans to fix the 64 – year old Mbokodweni bridge before the bumper season, in December.

The bridge is significant for tourism and trade and carries the N2 southbound carriageway over the Mbokodweni River from Durban to Port Shepstone.

SANRAL’s preliminary findings, point to malfunctioning of the bridge’s bearings, particularly, damage to span four.

These bearings, which support the bridge deck, are susceptible to excessive vibrations, such as seismic or earthquake loads, which can induce cracking and splitting.

The Mbokodweni Bridge consists of six spans, with a total length of 137.16 meters.

Mkhuleko Hlengwa, Deputy Transport Minister, said about the 2 urgent intervention “the assurance we want to give is that there is no structural damage to the bridge. These are ‘wear and tear’ elements which have broken down and will require replacement. SANRAL’s technical team is currently assessing how quickly this can be done.”

A full inspection of the remaining bearings is being undertaken as all bearings on the bridge may need to be replaced due to their age and vulnerability. Challenges to the repair work include high-water levels and the ongoing wet season, which will impact access to the site. To manage this, SANRAL will do the work in two phases.

Phase one will involve temporary support for span four, lifting the bridge deck, installing temporary supports with rubber padding, and lowering the new temporary deck to the required road level to allow it to reopen by 13 December 2024, before the holiday season.

Phase two, expected to begin in January 2025, will entail the replacement of all bearings to prevent future failures and to ensure the continued functionality of the bridge.
This phase will also address critical repairs, including the restrained cracking.

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