KUCHING: Another 9km of the road stretch between Sungai Arip bridge and Bintulu Airport junction will be opened to traffic in the next three months.
Of the 9km, 5km is the Bintulu section while the other 4km is the Tatau section.
This is on top of the 12km (9km-Bintulu, 3km-Tatau) opened to road users since July this year.
Lawrence Low, the LBU project manager for Sungai Arip bridge-Bintulu Airport junction stretch (Works Package 09), said construction work would now move on to the second carriageway and the opposite side of the first carriageway.
Construction of Works Package 09 involves two sections, namely Bintulu section, a 34km stretch from Tatau to Bintulu Airport junction, and Tatau section, a 30km stretch from Sungai Arip to Tatau.
Work is undertaken by main contractor KKB WCT JV Sdn Bhd.
“All these openings have been paved up to the binder course level, which has to be paved with wearing course as the final layer eventually.
“In the meantime, we can direct the traffic to this first carriageway while we work on the second carriageway next to it,” said Low.
As for the new Batang Tatau bridge, work has already reached the advanced stage and is expected to be completed by November this year.
“We are currently working on the parapet wall and retaining wall, which will be completed by the end of September.
“Batang Tatau bridge is 486.35m, stretching over eight spans and comprises 57 cantilevered segments and 35 post-tensioned girder beams.”
To recap, the original Batang Tatau bridge, built under the Fourth Malaysia Plan in 1979, is maintained after it passed the proof load test at the end of June last year. Proof load test is a process carried out to ascertain the load bearing capacity of a bridge under increased loading capacity in the future.
The original Batang Tatau bridge catered to both Bintulu- and Sibu-bound traffic. With the new Batang Tatau bridge built parallel to it, the two separate bridges will be made available with two lanes in each direction — the original bridge will serve Sibu-bound traffic while the new bridge will serve Bintulu-bound traffic.
Besides the Batang Tatau bridge, there are also seven other pre-stressed girder beam bridges that are progressing well and targeted for completion by February next year.
