The Dona Maria II Bridge at the eastern approach to Lagos will finally be repaired after a two year closure, but not until 2015.
Joaquina Matos, the Lagos mayor said that an application for EU funding has been successful and the work could start this summer with an estimated completion date for June 2015. The work has a rather ample budget of €1 million.
The road bridge was closed two years ago due to a risk of collapse as confirmed by the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering.
Local taxpayers will have to chip in 35% of the eventual cost of what the mayor describes as a “priority project," adding that the restoration of the bridge should start "in September and be completed in May or June next year."
The twelve arches will be strengthened and the pedestrians and bicycle lanes will be given more space.
The bridge has traces of Roman construction, there is no precise date for its original construction, and suffered major damage during the 1755 earthquake and was rebuilt in 1783. The last major repair work was around 1960.
