The Smartie Bridge saga has become a metaphor for Nelson Mandela Bay’s failing infrastructure governance.
On the surface, the bridge is colourful, but underneath, it is neglected by those in power.
This weekend, a taxi smashed into one of the newly erected poles meant to support long-awaited height-restriction barriers.
The incident, while minor considering the daily barrage of overloaded manganese trucks that drive across the 146-year-old structure, exposes just how weak the metro’s response has been to this long-running crisis.
The Wylde Bridge — dubbed the Smartie Bridge after it was repainted in 2016 — has a five-tonne weight limit.
However, every day, up to 20 trucks, each weighing more than 30 tonnes, cross it.
Swartkops residents have been raising the alarm for years, warning that the bridge is one overloaded trip away from collapsing.
But nothing is done.
When residents become the self-appointed guardians of a municipal asset, something has gone profoundly wrong.
We already have businesses guarding substations and water treatment works.
Residents should not be doing the metro’s job.
The city erected new height barriers, but it was a poor attempt to protect the bridge and the lives of those who cross it daily, including schoolchildren.
Wooden poles were chosen to support the barriers.
Residents are right to ask what will happen if a truck — and not a taxi — strikes the new height barriers.
Signage warning truckers of the weight restriction and giving them plenty time to peel off onto another road has been installed.
However, the hauliers, made brazen by years of lax enforcement, barrel on through regardless.
There is no shortage of concern or vigilance in Swartkops — only a shortage of action from the municipality.
It is time for the metro to do its job.
The city must replace the wooden poles, install proper barriers and enforce the law.
If the Smartie Bridge collapses, it will not be an accident. It will be the result of neglect.
The Herald
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