Good progress results in reopening of Tamavua‑i‑Wai Bridge to legal load limits

The Fiji Roads Authority says good progress in the last few days has resulted in reopening the Tamavua‑i‑Wai Bridge to legal load limits.

This however is subject to a restriction on the maximum weight of any group of axles of 16 tonnes and the gross combined weight of 32 tonnes.

FRA Chief Executive Officer John Hutchinson says that despite the bridge re‑opening as normal, heavy vehicle operators should understand the Gross Vehicle Weight of their vehicles and keep within the legal load limits.

Hutchinson says the engineer Erasito Beca and contractor Fulton Hogan Civil have made good progress on the bridge strengthening work to the point where FRA can re‑open the bridge to legal limits. 

FRA trusts the community and industry will respect and support the Authority by keeping within the legal load limits for the Tamavua‑i‑wai and all other Bridges within Fiji.

Hutchinson also says that FRA is taking into consideration the needs of the industry and the special conditions for approval of vehicles exceeding the allowable weights in the land transport vehicle registration and construction regulations.

He says for these heavy vehicles, companies can apply to Fiji Roads Authority stating the make, model and registration number of the vehicle, the individual axle weights from front to back, and the centre to centre spacing of the axles from front to back.

Motorists are advised that work is still taking place underneath the bridge and are requested to observe the speed limit of 30km when crossing over as this is still an active site.

Meanwhile the Land Transport Authority is now talking to Ports Authority to conduct loading checks for trucks before they leave the wharves in Suva.

LTA officers are no longer conducting loading checks for trucks at the Suva end of Tamavua-i-Wai bridge.

Chief Executive Officer, Naisa Tuinaceva confirms that the officers are on the ground conducting checks in different parts of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.

He says they cannot be there 24/7.

Fijivillage raised this issue with Fiji Roads Authority and LTA as FRA had clearly stated that Tamavua-i-Wai bridge was seriously compromised due to overloaded vehicles.

We have asked Tuinaceva what is being done to ensure that overloaded trucks do not cause this problem again as the bridge is the only entry and exit point for Suva along Queens Highway.

Tuinaceva says they are working with Ports Authority and are also relying on companies using trucks to follow the weight restrictions.

Fijivillage has noticed trucks with excessive loads passing Tamavua-i-Wai Bridge over the past few days without any checks being conducted.

Many trucks are again travelling at night with heavy loads.

This was happening in the past before the bridge had to be restricted to one lane which caused major traffic disruptions for thousands of workers and students on a daily basis.

Tuinaceva says they are aware of this issue and hope good sense will prevail.