SANTO DOMINGO. -The Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC) announced yesterday, Thursday, that it will proceed with the total closure of the Juan Pablo Duarte bridge, starting at 9:00 p.m. tonight, Friday the 17th, and until 5:00 a.m. next Monday, March 20th.
The structure will be closed to proceed with repairing the joints that have presented adhesion problems, at the request of the contracting company Proyectos Industriales, SA (PINSA), responsible for its repair.
A statement from the MOPC (Ministry of Public Works and Communications) indicates that the contracting firm requested the complete closure of the Duarte bridge, understanding it as "a necessary condition to guarantee the curing process.".
Massiel Sarita, director of PINSA, states that “during the execution of the project in these joints the mortar was not properly adhered to the existing one, due to the high vibrations produced by heavy vehicles at the time of setting; because it was executed with two lanes enabled for traffic services.”.
Earlier this week, the Deputy Minister of Road Maintenance, Mélito Santana Rincón, explained that the anomaly presented by the placement of the new joints does not in any way impede the free flow of traffic, nor endanger the lives of users, nor affect the structure itself.
Last year, new expansion joints were installed on the bridge to correct the pronounced deterioration of the previous ones, which had not been removed for several years, causing disruptions to vehicular traffic and damage to vehicles.
The Duarte Bridge is a 68-year-old structure. It was put into service in 1955. The investment in the most recent renovations was around 60 million pesos.
The Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC) apologizes to the public, especially those who regularly travel along this structure, for the inconvenience caused and assures that the closure measure aims to resolve the detected faults.
