GENERAL NEWS

Asutsuare Bridge Now A Fragile Death Trap

By Mary Dompreh and Austin Ofori Addo:

Road users in Asutsuare in the Shai Osudoku district of the Greater Accra region, particularly drivers and pedestrians who must cross the Asutsuare Bridge for various reasons have been put at continuous risk due to the weak and collapsing nature of the bridge.

This has affected a lot of people, particularly patrons who must use the bridge for one purpose or the other especially passengers and business operators who must cross from Asutsuare to Akuse or the other way round.

Rite reporter, Austin Ofori Addo who recently paid a visit to the site described the bridge as a death trap waiting to kill.

Eyewitnesses said this was not the first time the bridge had developed into this situation. According to a few who spoke with this reporter, the bridge which is made of metal was replaced sometime back when it was obvious that it was posing a threat to motorists.

They therefore went ahead to question why heavy trucks should be allowed to use the bridge since it was only made for small and light vehicles.

Many patrons this reporter interacted with were appalled at the nature of the bridge which they described as ‘weak, a death trap and a situation which can obviously lead to the avoidable damage to human lives.’

Obviously, drivers are, despite the dangerous nature of the bridge, being forced to risk their lives to cross the ‘death trap’ because it’s the only link between Asutsuare and Akuse. This reporter observed that despite the threat, many vehicles still plied it.

However, heavy trucks have advisedly and cautiously avoided the use of the bridge. Some drivers and passengers as well as residents within the community who spoke with this reporter agreed with a decision of the heavy truck drivers whom they accused of contributing to the weakened bridge. They particularly cited stone and sand-winning trucks which crossed the bridge with their heavy loads as guilty of the current situation.

Drivers who have no choice sometimes ended up trapped in the wreckage though they tried their best to meander their way around it.

Rite FM’s reporter was yesterday forced to temporarily assume the position of a traffic warden at the sight of the chaos that characterized the use of the now narrow bridge which has been reduced from a two way access route to just one.

This was compelled by an ugly scene which involved two motors which crashed in their bid to meander their way around a narrow way alongside the vehicles.

Source: ritefmonline.org

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