The Lands, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) said in a statement that a crack that appeared on the connecting viaduct in front of the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal leading to the Macau-Taipa Friendship Bridge in the early hours of yesterday does not affect its structural safety.
The statement, which was issued in the afternoon, said that the crack would be repaired overnight.
According to a statement by the Transport Bureau (DSAT), which was also released yesterday afternoon, the emergency repairs were scheduled to start at 7 p.m. yesterday and last for seven hours, during which the viaduct would be closed to Taipa-bound traffic. Workers were seen repairing the crack last night.
According to the DSSOPT statement, DSSOPT officials received a report from the Public Security Police (PSP) at around 12:15 a.m. yesterday that there was a crack on the surface of the connecting viaduct outside the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal.
The Friendship Bridge, the second Macau-Taipa link, opened to traffic in 1994. The bridge has two connecting viaducts on the peninsula. One is the viaduct from Avenida da Amizade near the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal, while the other is the one from the north-eastern coast of Areia Preta district.
According to the DSSOPT statement, its technicians went to the scene, where they confirmed that as the viaduct’s abutment and its main body have different types of structural support, after a long period of time the former is prone to have a larger settlement than the latter, thereby causing the crack on the viaduct’s road surface covered by asphalt in the area where the abutment and the main body are connected.
The DSSOPT statement said that such a situation does not affect the viaduct’s structural safety, adding that the overall structure of the bridge is in good condition.
Concerning the height difference of the guard rail and the parapet in the area where the viaduct’s abutment and its main body are joined, the DSSOPT statement said that the situation “has always existed”, which the bureau insisted does not affect “the normal use of the bridge”.
The DSSOPT statement said that the bureau would carry out emergency repairs overnight so that normal traffic on the bridge can continue, after which it would later carry out the resurfacing of the road surface at the section where the crack appeared, as well as “repair the guard rail and the parapet” in the area.
Two-way traffic on the four-lane, 4.7-kilometre-long bridge was not stopped during the repairs.
This photo taken yesterday afternoon shows a crack that appeared on the road surface on the connecting viaduct outside the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal leading to the Macau-Taipa Friendship Bridge (in the direction to Taipa) in the early hours of yesterday, and the “longstanding” height difference of the guard rail and the parapet there. Courtesy: TDM
Workers carry out emergency repairs last night to the road surface on the Friendship Bridge’s connecting viaduct near the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal where the crack appeared. Courtesy: TDM
