The Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) has assured motorists that the M1 South Bridge at the Booysens offramp is undergoing ongoing maintenance.
JRA’s managing director, Siyabonga Nodu, said the agency’s internal maintenance team had put in place safety-holding measures at the bridge.
He said the measures include unblocking of drain channels, cleaning of stormwater drains, the hole caused by the erosion in the embankment was backfilled with sand, repaving of the area with paving blocks on both sides of the embankment and the concrete storm water gutters conveying water under the bridge were reinstated.
“The continuous monitoring of the situation will be undertaken until permanent rehabilitation is concluded.
JRA workers carry out repair work at the M1 South bridge. Timothy Bernard African News Agency (ANA)
“The JRA would like to assure road users the safety of roads and bridges remains JRA’s top priority.
“We thank all road users for their patience and co-operation during the implementation of the interim measures,” said Nodu.
The update comes a week after it was reported the bridge was collapsing.
The JRA denied the bridge was collapsing, attributing damage to the stormwater infrastructure which was meant to take water from the top of the bridge to the bottom but had failed.
This led to water running down the bridge joints and causing erosion to paving and soil of the bridge embankment and abutment.
The JRA assured that the bridge structure was sound and safe for use.
The council last year announced that only 6% of the city’s bridges were in good condition.
It also revealed that about 78.38% of the bridges were in a poor or very poor condition and from 2013, 37 bridges have collapsed during rainy seasons.
Recently, the M2 highway received R58million of repairs after it was discovered that the structural integrity of the concrete elements were severely reduced, posing a danger to motorists.
The JRA indicated that the bridge repairing involved the demolition and reconstruction of four failed concrete columns and columns heads, installation of new waterproofed bridge joints and waterproofing of the existing bridge deck.