Bridge in Palembang may collapse due to excessive urination<\/p>\n
Muhammad Uzair, The Jakarta Post, Palembang<\/p>\n
The Palembang Transportation Office will soon reroute heavy
\nvehicles from Ampera bridge to the Musi II bridge in the near
\nfuture because a section of the Ampera bridge continues to slope
\nat an angle and cause an inordinate amount of resonance during
\nheavy traffic.<\/p>\n
Head of the city's transportation office, Syaidina Ali said on
\nThursday that his office would soon redirect the traffic of cargo
\nvehicles weighing more than one ton from the Ampera bridge.<\/p>\n
He added that the irregular slant of the bridge had been
\nconfirmed by Professor Annas Ali, a highway and bridge expert at
\nthe public works office who conducted research on the bridge
\nrecently.<\/p>\n
One of the reasons for the apparent structural deterioration
\nwas due to the frequency of people urinating on one of the steel
\npillars of the bridge, causing it weaken due to the corrosive
\nforces of human urine.<\/p>\n
\"Try standing on the Ampera bridge. If the traffic passing on
\nthe bridge is heavy, you can feel it moving quite a bit,\" said
\nSyaidina.<\/p>\n
The 1,177-meter long and 22-meter wide bridge is one of the
\nmost vital bridges in Palembang connecting the upper and the
\nlower part of the city. Besides being one of the main modes for
\ncommuting, the bridge is also one of the city's famous landmarks
\nand a tourist attraction.<\/p>\n
Head of the highway and bridge department at the Palembang
\nPublic Works Office, Azmi Lakoni, said that the office had not
\nyet done research on the condition of the bridge.<\/p>\n
\"The office has not yet done thorough tests on the slant of
\nthe bridge, but we are concerned that one of its main support
\npiers has been weakened by urine, as it is a popular spot for
\nlocals to relieve themselves,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He explained that urine had high acidic levels and thus
\ncorroded the steel on the bottom of one of the two main piers,
\nwhich could lead to a collapse of the bridge eventually.<\/p>\n
Another problem that was pointed out was that people had
\nstolen pieces of the bridge.<\/p>\n
In 1998, when the country was simultaneously in a state of
\neuphoria and confusion sparked by the reformasi movement, thieves
\nwere known to have dismantled some parts of the bridge. They
\nclimbed the tower and cut off several parts.<\/p>\n
The Ampera bridge, built in April, 1962, after being approved
\nby former president Sukarno. Funds for the construction came from
\nthe Japanese war reparations to Indonesia. The bridge was
\ninaugurated in 1965 and was initially named the Bung Karno
\nbridge.<\/p>\n
However, following the political upheaval in 1966, when anti-
\nSukarno protests were strong, the name of the bridge was changed
\nto Ampera (Amanat Penderitaan Rakyat or the Mandate of People's
\nPain). The Ampera bridge was renovated once, in 1981, at a cost
\nof Rp 850 million following concerns that there were flaws in the
\noriginal construction that cause it to collapse.<\/p>",
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