Repair works on Kojo Ashong Bailey bridge completed

Repair works on the 36-metre Bailey steel bridge connecting Kojo Ashong and Otuplem in the Ga West Municipality have been completed ahead of schedule and the bridge will be reopened to traffic.

This was disclosed to the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Titus Glover, when he visited the project site last Saturday to ascertain the progress of work.

He was accompanied by the Ga West Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Clement Wilkinson, and the New Patriotic Party’s parliamentary candidate for the Amasaman Constituency, Yahya Kassim Atta.

They were conducted round the project by the Project Supervisor, Teteete Nii Nortey Owuo IV. Work on the project, which began on Sunday, June 7, early in the morning, was scheduled to be completed on July 21.

During the visit, workers were seen painting and lifting some of the components with a crane to replace the old ones. Motorbikes and pedestrians who were allowed to use the bridge had to wait several hours on both sides of the bridge during the repair works.

The works were necessitated as a result of rusted bolts and nuts holding the steel bridge over the Densu River and the bridge's broken metal planks that have also left holes in it, rendering it precarious.

Mr Titus Glover said he was impressed with the progress of work on the project, and thanked the Ghana Highway Authority for the good work done, and everyone who had contributed to the maintenance of the bridge.

''The state of the precarious state of the bridge, for a long time, was a great concern to the residents of Kojo Ashong and its adjoining villages'', he said. He said his outfit would consult the Chief Executive of the Ghana Highway Authority and his engineers in finding a solution to the volume of heavy-duty trucks that carried sand and stone that damaged the road.

''An arrangement can be made for them to use other routes, or whether they should carry single or double axle loads’’, he said.

Nii Nortey Owuo IV, who is also the Assistant Project Manager (Bridge Maintenance Unit) of the Ghana Highway Authority, said they had replaced most of the worn-out components on the bridge.

''We have some of the components, but those we don’t have we fabricated them for the project,'' he said. 
He told the minister and his entourage that they had completed 90 per cent of the work and would allow vehicles to use the bridge last Saturday night. He said they would fix mini gantries on the bridge to limit axle weight to prevent heavy-duty vehicles from damaging the bridge.

The Daily Graphic, on December 7, 2020, published the story of the bridge to draw the attention of the Ministry of Roads and Highways and the Ga West Municipal Assembly to the precarious nature of the bridge.

Although assurances were given, no action was taken on the bridge.

Three Junction, Kojo Ashong Road

Recently, after a working visit to inspect the bridge and roads, the Minister of Roads and Highways, Francis Asenso-Boakye, announced the reassignment of the Amasaman Three Junction to Kojo-Ashong road project to a new contractor.

The minister assessed the situation and decided to manage the project under the Urban Roads Department, directing the Highway Authority to promptly address the broken bridge issue.