President Museveni is expected to commission the glamorous New Nile Bridge in Jinja this morning.Funded by the Ugandan and Japanese governments, the bridge has been lit up ahead of the commissioning ceremony, exciting the country.
The event will be graced by top government officials; Japanese representatives to Uganda and Uganda National Roads Authority staff.
The bridge is expected to promote the economic growth of Uganda and the East African countries through enhancing smoothness of transportation on the Northern Corridor.
The 525m-long bridge will as well ensure safety of the Northern Corridor Transportation System by relieving traffic loading from the deteriorating Nalubaale Dam/Bridge structure which was opened to traffic in 1954.
Built at a cost of Shs 450bn, the New Bridge was designed with a structural life span of 120 years, and its picturesque location is expected to enhance tourism in the country.
This bridge is the longest single plane cable configuration in the entire African Continent.
The 525m-long bridge has a central span of 290m, end spans of 135m and 100m on the east and west banks respectively.
The overall width of the Bridge is 22.9m wide. It has a dual carriageway 7.0m wide with a pedestrian walk way of 2.25m wide on both ends. For security at night, the Bridge will have lighting facilities.
The bridge’s foundation of 1.5m and 2.0m diameter piles are embedded approximately 14-23m deep into hard rock.
The new 1.83km long asphalt approach roads has three at-grade junctions at Nile Breweries, Nytil and Jinja round about to allow interchange of traffic to the existing road network