Decommissioned and vandalised bridge over N14 demolished

A bridge in Pretoria that had been decommissioned and vandalised was demolished on Saturday night.

The demolition of Bridge 2348 on the N14 started on Saturday night at about 6pm and finished on Sunday morning at around 7pm.

The bridge‚ between the Eeufees Interchange and the Swartkoppies Interchange‚ was built in 1965 and was 64m long‚ 4.5m wide and weighed 96 tonnes. It carried two water pipes which belonged to the City of Tshwane.

The bitumen-lined pipes were 600mm in diameter and served as a mainline to Pretoria.

The engineering company SMEC assessed the bridge in 2015 after the water pipes had been decommissioned. SMEC engineer Etienne du Plessis said some of the steel had been stolen.

Gauteng Transport MEC Ishmael Vadi visited the site on Saturday night and said they wanted to stop further vandalisation.

“They might snap the cable ties. The railings were being stolen‚ cut off‚ etc. That would pose a serious risk.”

Vadi said the cost of repairing and demolishing a bridge is often similar.

“If you repair it‚ it stands there as an iconic structure‚ but then you’ve got to keep monitoring it.”

Jet Demolition also demolished the pedestrian bridge on N3 Geldenhuys and Gillooly’s interchange in Ekurhuleni which collapsed last month.

Vadi said they have since established the pedestrian bridge belonged to the City of Ekurhuleni and was not a Sanral bridge as initially thought.

He said the bridge was erected when the highway was built in 1978 and “there was no Sanral then”.