Forty-one bridges suffer from very serious defects in Wallonia, while 188 have serious defects, according to La Dernière Heure, with reference to statistics from the Walloon Minister of Mobility, Philippe Henry.
Furthermore, 765 bridges have minor defects. A further 126 bridges require close monitoring. 4,110 are in a “satisfactory” state but need maintenance, and only 332 require no work at all.
In total, just over 17% of the 5,851 bridges in Belgium’s French-speaking region are a cause for concern, or nearly one in five. Against the backdrop of catastrophic incidents, such as the Morandi bridge collapse in Italy in 2018, concerns are growing for the safety of these structures.
According to the minister, measures have been taken by regional authorities to ensure that bridges are repaired where needed, and made safe. “Some need to be replaced and until the new structure is installed, traffic is reduced or prohibited,” he assured.
There are a number of problematic bridges across Wallonia, including the Prayon bridge over the Vesdre and the Capitte bridge in La Louvière.
The Capitte bridge is currently closed to heavy traffic and much of the iron supports have completely crumbled away. “Others require major repairs, but their condition does not require the implementation of traffic limitations,” Henry added.
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The Walloon mobility minister assures that all the structures receive annual inspections to check the evolution of defects and that the status of any bridge can be re-evaluated at any time. A budgetary program is in place to allocate funding to their repair based on urgency.
Priority for repairs is allocated based on factors such as budgetary constraints, vehicle traffic, cost, impact, and study preparation time.
