A replacement structure is to be erected alongside Longbird Bridge to ease traffic chaos while a five-year programme of maintenance work is carried out.

Longbird Bridge has been restricted to one lane in recent weeks because its infrastructure has been deemed unsafe following damage from storms and the environment.

Motorists have complained the lane closure has led to lengthy tailbacks, while the queues have also been blamed for flight delays at the nearby L. F. Wade International Airport.

In a Ministerial statement in the House of Assembly yesterday, Works and Engineering Minister Dennis Lister explained why work would be carried out.

“In order to continue to allow the use of the bridge by commercial, public and emergency vehicles, and so to minimise the effect of the deterioration of this bridge on the people of Bermuda, the Ministry has elected at this time to restrict the traffic over Longbird Bridge to one lane,” said Mr. Lister.

“The restriction that has been put in place is a temporary measure. The Ministry has already moved on a course of action that will ensure that unrestricted two-way traffic will be active on the causeway as soon as is possible.

“The solution that is being pursued by the Ministry involves the erection of a replacement structure alongside Longbird Bridge that will ensure that there will be no further restrictions necessary between its erection and the completion of the Ministry’s long-term management strategy for the replacement of the existing crossing within the next five years.”

Mr. Lister described the bridge, which was constructed in 1953 by the US Army Corps of Engineers, as being in a “very poor state of repair”. He said rust had caused some structural sections to lose 75 percent of their steel and that there were multiple deficiencies in the electrical system used to operate the movement of the bridge. “It is clear that due to the age of the bridge, the severely corrosive environment and storm damage, the bridge could not be maintained at full strength indefinitely,” he said.

Responding last night, Shadow Works and Engineering Minister Jon Brunson said Mr. Lister had failed to mention a number of key points about the bridge.

Mr. Brunson said the US Navy — which was previously responsible for the bridge — and Works and Engineering were both aware of its deterioration in 2001 or before.

“Why has it taken this Government more than five years to finally begin addressing what has now become a seriously critical situation?” asked Mr. Brunson in a statement.

“The fact that this Government knew about the state of the bridge since the late 1990s and has done nothing can only be described as serious negligence and a disservice to the people.”

Describing the Longbird and Causeway as a “lifeline to the airport and east end of the Island”, Mr. Brunson predicted that inconvenience would be magnified when Cup Match takes place in St. George’s later this summer.