New Awash Bridge, the main Ethio-Djibouti connecting hub has started operation, according to The Daily Monitor.

The bridge is 145 meters long and 9.3 meters wide. It has two lanes and the construction cost which is 204 million Birr is financed by Japanese Government.

The project for replacement of Awash Bridge was needed because the old Awash Bridge that was constructed in 1971 is by large corroded, damaged and has insufficient load ability.

Previously, speed limit was placed on vehicles to move only 20 km per hour at the old-lane bridge. The construction of the new bridge at the downstream side of the existing bridge has however let the speed limit of the vehicles on the bridge to be 85 km per hour.

The weight limit of vehicles permitted to cross the bridge has also increased by over 25 percent from the previous 32.6 tons to 40.8 tons.

Both Japanese consultants and contractors have applied their technologies to build the new bridge.
Now the bridge has a capacity to serve 2200 vehicles daily.

The construction of the new bridge took three years to be completed.

Source: The Daily Monitor