New Bridge is up! But not quite done yet...

Check it out!

      The new bridge is up!  It looks good, but the approaches on each end are still not quite done--the local Department of Works says that the bridge is still temporary, as they are building a new foundation.  The new foundation is being built next to the bridge, when ti is done, they'll shift the bridge over on to the new foundation.

      Needless to say, the entire Aiyura Valley is happy about the new bridge.

Kingston Bridge part II

      So this morning Evan (the boss) and I went down to the bridge to see how things are progressing down there.  We'd heard rumor that the government had lit a fire under the backsides of the local works department in an effort to get things moving, and it looks like it worked!  This was the scene from above a couple days ago: (photo by Gavin Jones)

     and here was the scene this morning at 10 a.m.:

     At that time, it was already more than halfway across the river, and I heard later in the day that it was already all the way across!  We may actually be able to drive across it again before the end of the week.  It's astonishing to see how fast these guys are working.  I'll post more photos of the finished bridge.

Well, it FINALLY happened!

      Yup.  After at least 52 years of heavy use and very little maintenance, this old Bailey bridge in Kainantu has finally given up.  The tanker truck in the river had 2 people in it--the driver had a couple of broken bones, but the crewman was unhurt.  It looks as if the truck rolled completely over and the fuel tank (containing 20,000 litres of diesel) broke off of the back

         
        The bad news is that this bridge is the only road link between the Aiyura Valley and the rest of the world--almost.  There is a rough dirt road (which crosses over another partially falling down bridge), which for the moment is open to dirt bikes and smaller 4x4 trucks.