The Fiji Roads Authority says it is making arrangements for the fabrication and installation of a ‘guide fence’ on the new Rewa Bridge.
Acting CEO Robert Sen says fabrication of the fence components is currently underway and the erection of panels is expected to be completed before the end of this month.
Sen’s comments come after a number of parents raised concerns that their children are not safe on the new Rewa Bridge as they are walking just beside speeding vehicles on the four lane bridge.
A concerned parent told Fijivillage that the Rewa Bridge is not just any small bridge that hundreds of students of Dilkusha Methodist Kindergarten, Dilkusha High and Lelean Memorial School can quickly walk across.
The parent says that children are sometimes playful and can push each other while walking, and this can result in a student landing in front of a vehicle on the longest bridge in the country.
Sen says the Rewa bridge has been designed and constructed to an internationally safe standard.
He says the footpaths on both sides of the bridge are raised above the carriageway and the footpath height difference above the carriageway is the mechanism which prevents vehicles from striking pedestrians.
Sen says the guide fence is simply to avoid children stumbling onto the roadway.
The Acting CEO has acknowledged that students may misbehave while crossing the bridge and the decision to install the ‘guide fence’ was made by FRA in consultation with the community to mitigate the risk of students falling onto the roadway.
Sen adds the FRA teams have consulted the heads of schools in Nausori prior to the old Rewa bridge closure to create awareness amongst the school children who will be using the new bridge and is counting on the support of parents and school teachers to supervise the large number of school children who will use the new bridge.
