By LETRE SWEETING
lsweeting@tribunemedia.net
THE Bridge Authority yesterday announced a possible toll increase for vehicles with heavy equipment and weight restrictions on the Paradise Island bridges next year pending an assessment on the traffic impact on the structures.
Basil Longley, chairman of the Bridge Authority, said yesterday that due to the age of the Paradise Island bridges, the entity has devised a plan for dealing with concerns about the integrity of the structures.
“We have a very structured plan. We have a maintenance team. We have consultants that work with us. We have the Ministry of Works for which we are part and we use. Their engineers and inspections occur on a periodic basis that they come in and they evaluate and we go out and get quotes on what the work costs and we build all that into our costs,” Mr Longley said at a press conference.
“The bridges have some age to them. But the last assessment which was done fairly recently, the structure of the bridges are sound. We don’t have any issues there,” he said.
“What we’re looking to do now is to kind of get some assessment on the traffic impact on the bridge. So the cars for example are fine, but periodically there is heavy equipment that has to travel over the bridge and that is a major concern for us and we are unable to assess what impact that has on the structure,” Mr Longley said.
“We will be addressing all of those issues and concerns in a very positive and effective way in collaboration with consulting and engineering companies, which we already have a relationship with in Canada and the United States,” he said.
When asked if the Bridge Authority plans to impose any weight restrictions on the older eastern bridge, Mr Longley said, “It could very well. That is our concern, it’s with the weight and how do we control that. If the weight is not a violation or is not causing a problem with the bridge, then certainly. But over time everything would create a problem.”
He added that after reviewing the findings presented in the assessment and upon consultation from experts, the bridge toll for vehicles with heavy equipment, loaded with steel or concrete, may see an increase next year.
“We may need to look at adjusting fees to deal with that. We don’t know what the study will reveal and then coming out of that study, if it means that, you know, we need to put some things in place to ensure that we boost the revenue to be able to do the work that we need to do to maintain the bridges more effectively and more securely. Then we would have to do that,” he said.
“We’re focusing on heavy equipment. For example, when construction is going on. There’ll be demolition of buildings, then you would have trucks coming over, empty when they leave, they leave loaded right with concrete, steel, everything,” Mr Longley said.
“We don’t have any way of monitoring the weight of those vehicles (on the eastern bridge) now. Common sense would tell us that, you know, that is something that’s critical and we need to do it, and the consultants with their advisors as to the extent of what we need to do, how we do it, how we manage it, etc,” he said.
“I don’t have all the answers to the questions that you’re asking. But that is why we’re engaging consultants to assist us and guide us with that and we will be guided by whatever advice that they give us,” Mr Longley said.
The eastern Paradise Island bridge has been in existence since 1966, giving it an age of 56 years and the newer Sir Sidney Poitier Bridge is 24-years-old, having been constructed in 1998, according to Bridge Authority officials.
In 2016, tolls for the Sidney Poitier Bridge doubled for private vehicles from $1 to $2—the first increase in 17 years.