The trouble began when one of the bridges developed cracks big enough to trip motorbikes. Upon inspection, 3 supporting columns have separated, prompting police to immediately close the bridge. The bridge, one out of three built around the same time, are located on the extremely busy Jalan Gatsu Timur, which connects Bypass I Gusti Ngurah Rai to Jl Mahendradatta with connection to Sunset Road. The other 2 bridges are also reported as being under inspection, and none of them have been renovated in over 27 years. The bridges are also sorely overused, as they are all 2 lane bridges with 4 lanes of traffic roads connecting to them, creating bottlenecks even before the recent issue.
The closure of the bridge means that heavy traffic has to be diverted elsewhere, causing long traffic jams all around Denpasar. Heavy vehicles coming from the port of Padang Bai will now circumnavigate via Bypass Ngurah Rai, Dewa Ruci (Simpang Siur), Sunset Road, Imam Bonjol, Teuku Umar Barat, Mahendradatta.
Likewise heavy traffic from the port of Gilimanuk will circumnavigate the opposite way.
What this means is traffic along those routes, especially in already busy tourist areas such as Sunset Road (connections to Kuta, Seminyak, Canggu), will be a disaster.
The repairs are expected to take until Oct 20. However, there is now a push to build new bridges altogether, which is needed considering the age and bottleneck situation of the current bridges, but this is estimated to take at least 8 months, and will extend closures for at least that long.
Link 1 (Indonesian)
Link 2 (Indonesian)
The closure of the bridge means that heavy traffic has to be diverted elsewhere, causing long traffic jams all around Denpasar. Heavy vehicles coming from the port of Padang Bai will now circumnavigate via Bypass Ngurah Rai, Dewa Ruci (Simpang Siur), Sunset Road, Imam Bonjol, Teuku Umar Barat, Mahendradatta.
Likewise heavy traffic from the port of Gilimanuk will circumnavigate the opposite way.
What this means is traffic along those routes, especially in already busy tourist areas such as Sunset Road (connections to Kuta, Seminyak, Canggu), will be a disaster.
The repairs are expected to take until Oct 20. However, there is now a push to build new bridges altogether, which is needed considering the age and bottleneck situation of the current bridges, but this is estimated to take at least 8 months, and will extend closures for at least that long.
Link 1 (Indonesian)
Link 2 (Indonesian)
