DPWH conducts inventory of bridges needing rehab

MAASIN CITY — The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Southern Leyte is currently conducting an inventory of bridges in the province to assess and evaluate the current condition of these structures.

DPWH district engineer Ma. Margarita Junia said 15 personnel from the maintenance and planning sections were deployed to do the inventory that will check the conditions of bridges.

According to Junia, around 156 bridges in Southern Leyte will be subjected to the Bridge Management System (BMS), in which the results will serve as basis for estimating the funding needed for repairs for next year.

“Some of our bridges here in Southern Leyte need to undergo major rehabilitation since they have been existing since the 1970s. We need to identify bridges that are up for rehabilitation or repair so that we can request an allocation from the national government,” she said.

BMS bridge data is annually collected based on the bridge inventory and condition surveys being conducted by accredited inspectors from the district office.

We need to identify bridges that are up for rehabilitation or repair so that we can request an allocation from the national government.

The regional BMS coordinators will supervise quality-checking of the data before it gets encoded in the Bridge Inventory Condition stand-alone program and uploaded in the repository of all national road and bridge data.

The Central Office BMS team will take the lead in uploading the data, conducting quality assurance checks, as well as the conduct of BMS analysis.

A list of priority bridges that require major maintenance and replacement which can be funded locally or foreignassisted bridge programs in the annual general appropriations is expected to be generated from the data gathered.