The Federal Highway Police (PRF) partially released, this Monday (13), four lanes towards Niterói and two towards Rio de Janeiro from the Rio-Niterói bridge. The decision is valid until Tuesday (14).
An inspection of a part will be carried out which is not possible at the moment. If there are no problems, the other two tracks will be unlocked.
The mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes (PSD), published a technical inspection that analyzed pillars 71, 72 and 73, in which no damage was detected in the structure. “Assessment on support devices are indicating minor damage.”
Bridge Information: “The technical team inspected pillars 71, 72 and 73 and did not detect any damage to the structure (below and meso). evaluation of the support devices are indicating minor damage. They should release traffic, partially, in a short time.”
— Eduardo Paes (@eduardopaes) November 15, 2022
A ship collided with the bridge earlier this Monday night and caused the complete banning of the road in both directions. Therefore, the Federal Highway Police (PRF) advised drivers to travel between the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Niterói on the Rio-Magé highway.
The Operations Center in Rio said, via Twitter, that the occurrence caused impacts on the accesses to the bridge, in addition to the Red Line and Avenida Brasil.
The Brazilian Navy reported that the vessel named “São Luiz”, due to extreme weather conditions, “had its mooring broken and moved from the place where it was anchored.”
The Captaincy of the Ports of Rio de Janeiro (CPRJ) sent a search and rescue team to the site to coordinate the tugs that were removing the ship. She will be taken to berth in the Port of Rio de Janeiro.
The vessel, which is awaiting a court decision, had been anchored in Guanabara Bay since 2016, but “without posing risks to navigation”.
An inquiry will be launched to investigate the incident.
Risk management specialist Gerardo Portela explains that the bridge pillars have a safety system to prevent the structure from being compromised in the event of a collision. “The Rio-Niterói bridge, on its pillars, is provided with protections. There are other pillars that are around the pillar that actually supports the bridge, precisely to minimize the effects of this type of collision, but the mass of the ship is very large and it is not known whether there was any damage that could have reached the pillar itself.”
(*With information from Elis Franco, Renata Souza and Manoela Carlucci, from CNN)
Source: CNN Brasil
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