Why are Zambian Bridges Humps?

By Godfrey Chitalu

Several years ago there was a fatal accident on the Great East road. The government of the time took decisive action by appointing a contractor to redo the bridge that had carved in as a result of heavy rains. The bridge was constructed in record time but like most bridges in our country, it had an unmistakable hump. The hump before and at the end of the said bridge is quite sickening and very rough. It reminds me about road engineers and reschooling. The vast majority of our bridges countrywide are intentionally big humps with inordinately shorter spans.

Do our road engineers know that a drive through a bridge should be smooth and plain sailing? Why are we subjected to humpback type bridges on our highways? It’s like in our country almost all bridges on our highways are hump backed not by design but by mistake. Normal bridges should be flat and should not change the gradient feel as one drives over them. What role can the Engineering Institute of Zambia play in ensuring that we are not subjected to unnecessary rough rides due to shoddy bridges?

As a lay man, my role is to ask pertinent questions to the people tasked to build our roads. Does it mean that we don’t have competent bridge engineers in our country? As a person who has been to almost all districts in our beautiful country, it baffles why we have allowed engineers to take us for a rough ride. How come in other countries you can drive smoothly over bridges on highways?

How many times do passengers and drivers count whenever they are passing through rough bridges? It is common knowledge that most of our bridges are shorter than their intended span. One day I accosted a bridge engineer on why they short change us on bridges? Every time you pass over most bridges, you can literally feel the gap between the road and the bridge. This is not only a disruption to vehicles but is damaging to the road network.

I’m sick and tired of experiencing bumps before and at the end of bridges. This is not normal and is a source of concern to others. Someone might think, I’m complaining over trivial matters but didn’t the country have a problem with a famous bridge in Lusaka’s Longacre’s? We can change the narrative by demanding for quality in upcoming constructions.

My advice to road engineers is to increase compacting on either side of any bridge constructed. It is very clear that with most bridges in our country engineers neglect to compact the road on the two ends of its bridge. The end result is that erosion takes its toll and affects rideability or the ability of a vehicle to ride smoothly on a road. Often times, the road itself is not compacted enough; leaving a bridge to stand alone while the road dies under the weight of vehicles.

If we took statistics from road users, I’m afraid most won’t have kind words for our engineers on this score. Rideability on our roads is very poor. This is worsened as you approach any bride. It is high time our engineers took note of this challenge which they have helped create. Sometimes we blame wrong people for accidents while leaving the main culprits free. Engineers pull your socks and ensure that smoothness on our roads is enhanced. While we understand that some of our roads and bridges are world-class, there is need to employ a new bridge construction strategy.

The author is a social commentator who writes for pleasure.

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