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JRA refutes reports of M1 bridge collapse

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The Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) has refuted reports that part of the M1 south bridge at the Booysens off-ramp, in Johannesburg, has collapsed.

On Wednesday, water from a drain system caused sand to erode, resulting in the paving on the side of the bridge to collapse. No fatalities or injuries were reported.

JRA acting managing director Siyabonga Nodu says the bridge structure has not been compromised.

“The bridge structure itself has not collapsed as a bridge structure. The cause of the actual erosion and collapse of the paving blocks is that there is a V-drain there and water that is supposed to go through that V-drain gets channeled all the way to this structure and goes into that block. So the water gets channeled sideways and it looks like there was a crack here, then the water seeped under the structure. The soft sand got eroded and the paving blocks collapsed because of the sand that went out.”

JMPD Spokesperson Xolani Fihla says that the bridge will remain open.

“The engineers from JRA have confirmed that it is only on the side of the road and the bridge structure is still firm and traffic can still move. Our biggest concern at the moment is the sand from the embankment but members from JRA have promised to move this and traffic will flow.”

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