ZERO ACTIVITY. No sign of any work below the Bailey bridge at the SCTEx.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
CLARK FREEPORT – The Bailey bridge put up to temporarily over a collapsed part of a concrete bridge spanning the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) in Porac, Pampanga is reportedly being fortified at its base amid another lahar threat this rainy season, but a photo taken recently by a motorist belied this.
Almost six months now since the 49-meter long damage was caused by lahar flows along the Pasig-Potrero River during Typhoon Maring in August last year, the Bailey bridge has remained safe for motorists, said SCTEx service engineer Joshua Bingcang, “You don’t see it, but work on the permanent restoration of the damaged portion has been ongoing since about four weeks ago. You don’t see it because the work is being done at the bottom section of the bridge,” he said, adding that d the fortification work is expected to be finished before the next rainy season.
Bingcang said the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA), which owns and operates SCTEx, has already finished with the design for the permanent replacement of the damaged bridge section with the approval of the Bureau of Design of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
He estimated that the construction of the new permanent replacement would cost some P120 million. “We are adding one more span for the bridge,” he said, as most of the sections of the soil at the southern end had been eroded into the river when it was damaged on Aug. 19, 2013.
A motorist has complained that “no work” is being done at the damaged section of the bridge and even took photos down the Pasig Potrero River only last March 4 showing no activity at all at the base where Bingcang said fortification work is being done.
His photo also showed debris of a car on the riverbed amid reports that a car recently fell into the river from an “unguarded end” of the bridge. The Bailey bridge was a temporary measure installed by the DPWH a month after the collapse of a section of the bridge across the Pasig-Potrero River.
The river used to be an active volcanic lahar channel emanating from the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo. Bingcang said he had yet to check on the reported fatal accident, even as he assured motorists that the Bailey bridge has remained capable of withstanding the weight of vehicles up to as much as 35 tons.
“Our work is within our timetable. We could not start earlier because all studies on lahar behaviour in the area of the bridge had to be studied to avoid a repetition of the same accident. There were hydrological and other such studies that had to be finished,” he stressed.
He said that workers have been installing pre-fabricated board piles at the basement of the bridge and reinforcing cracks in the same area to make sure the approaches to the bridge would no longer be eroded by river flows.
“We have to finish this reinforcement measures at the base of the bridge before the rainy season,” he added.
Bingcang also said that bidding for the construction of the permanent section of the bridge would be held soon, after the basement sections have been fully fortified to withstand fl ows in the Pasig-Potrero River.
