GAUGE…..Movement monitoring gauge under the bridge at the pier.
By : DAP MEDIA
THE Sabah DAP Kota Kinabalu Member of Parliament Hiew King Cheu received a complaint through his e-mail from a very concern resident John who is a professional engineer living in Kingfisher Park.
John claimed that there is certainly something seriously wrong on the existing bridge that he used to cross the river daily. The permissible weight load on the bridge had been reduced to only 10 tons now from the previous limit of 20 tons.
Hiew led his team to conduct an onsite investigation to check whether there is a real problem in the existing bridge structure. He found that there is no worker working on the new bridge construction and the whole site is at a standstill.
There is only a piling contractor doing some concrete piling on the approach ramp near the roundabout. The abutment on the west side of the bridge is already fixed up with steel bar reinforcement and ready to received concrete. There is not work done for a long time now and the steel bars are getting rusty and showing sign of corrosion due to the salty water in the Likas River.
The piling work on the East abutment had stopped and it is believed that the heavy piling work of many concrete piles which are at very close proximity to the existing bridge had affected the old pile support to the pier.
ABUTMENT…..Rusty steel bars of the east end abutment.
Hiew went down below to inspect the underside of the existing bridge and its pier, and noticed that there are some investigation studies are being carried out by JKR engineers to monitor the movement of the existing bridge. They are also setting up some measuring props in the water to check on the river bed movement. The river bed has a thick layer of mud and soft material up to 50 foot thick.
Hiew said the inspection showed that this sort of mishap should not happen if there is a careful consideration on the design on the possible effect caused by the piling work to the old bridge. The new bridge should not be built just next to the old bridge, why it is not built at least 10 meters apart?
The sure thing is that the people living in Kingfisher Park will have to wait for a longer period for the new bridge to be completed.
Hiew wants to know when the JKR can recommence the construction work, and to ascertain that the old bridge is safe for the traffic. We cannot have the old bridge facing a total closed down due to its unstableness, or even a reduced permissible loading down to only 10 tons.
There is some heavy construction work going on in the Kingfisher Park area, and many heavy trucks weigh well over 30 tons will need to get across. I am sure plenty of 30 tons trucks still crossing the bridge every nights and days.
We want JKR to explain on how safe it is if there is a 50-tons trailer crossing on the bridge. Will the bridge collapse? Is the small 10-ton load limit sufficient to warn the heavy truck drivers and stop him from crossing?
We want JKR and especially the Minister of Infrastructure Development Tan Sri Pairin Joseph Kitingan and the chief Minister of Sabah Datuk Musa Aman to give us an answer. The safety of the road users and the people must be the top priority of the government.
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