Lativa shuts down Riga’s Deglava Bridge amid safety concerns

Latvia’s interior affairs minister Sandis Ģirģens has ordered the closure of Deglava Bridge from today, 25 April, declaring is a safety risk. “I believe there are enough factors to conclude this bridge puts people’s lives at risk,” said Ģirģens, as reported by national media. If the city doesn’t close the bridge today, Ģirģens said the national State Police will. Latvia's State Construction Control Bureau last week ordered the closure of the bridge after inspectors found that the bridge's supportin
April 23, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

Latvia’s interior affairs minister Sandis Ģirģens has ordered the closure of Deglava Bridge from today, 25 April, declaring is a safety risk.

“I believe there are enough factors to conclude this bridge puts people’s lives at risk,” said Ģirģens, as reported by national media.

If the city doesn’t close the bridge today, Ģirģens said the national State Police will.

Latvia's State Construction Control Bureau last week ordered the closure of the bridge after inspectors found that the bridge's supporting structures were damaged. The reconstruction project does not include works to repair the damages in full, according to the media.

The bureau has been putting pressure on the city council to explain why the bridge had not previously been closed due to what they said were safety issues.

The city, however, has reduce the vehicle weight limit to 30 tonnes on the four-lane overpass.

Road Structures

Related Content

  • Kenya’s bridge maintenance woes persist
    May 10, 2018
    Many of Kenya’s bridges are in poor condition writes Shem Oirere. The lack of programmed maintenance of bridges in Kenya continues to undermine the structural integrity of the infrastructure and compromising their general usage safety despite the existence of approved measures to protect them from falling into a state of disrepair. Experts think that both the absence of a maintenance component in bridge construction contracts, especially for those built one or two decades ago, and a weak maintenance supervi
    Read More
  • Concern at European road safety issues
    March 24, 2015
    The European Commissioner of Transport, Violeta Bulc, has announced EU road safety statistics for 2014 that give some cause for concern. In 2014 there were a total of 25,700 road deaths across all 28 Member States of the EU. Road fatality figures differ widely among Member States. The figures indicate only a 1% improvement since last year, meaning that significantly more effort will be needed from Member State governments in order to reach the Commission's goal to halve the number of road deaths between 201
    Read More
  • Bomag’s president Ralf Junker puts his faith in BIM
    November 8, 2017
    World Highways recently caught up with Ralf Junker, president of BOMAG Group, during the company’s Innovation Days at its headquarters in Germany. David Arminas reports. Ralf Junker hasn’t forgotten his roots. You can put as much machine control as you like on a piece of construction equipment but all that high-technology is for nothing if the build quality isn’t there. Junker knows something about build quality. When he started at BOMAG in 1988, he was in the welding shop, eventually becoming supervisor
    Read More
  • Distracted driving report from European nations
    April 16, 2018
    There are now calls from right across Europe to increase education, enforcement and penalties for distracted driving. Mike Woof reports Surveys across Europe have revealed worrying attitudes to the use of mobile devices while driving, according to a report by the European Transport and Safety Commission (ETSC). Campaigners are calling for better enforcement, higher penalties, technological solutions and education to raise awareness of the risks. A survey in the Czech Republic found that 36% of drivers a
    Read More

Highlighted Content