Highway reopens in Eastern Highlands

The damaged section of the highlands highway just outside Goroka town in the Eastern Highlands province has been reconstructed and the road opened over the weekend.
That section of the highway was closed for 12 days.
Eastern Highlands Provincial Works and four construction companies assembled a one lane bridge and launched it across the damaged section, a culvert that was washed away with more than 50 meters of the highway.
Provincial Works manager John Posago said yesterday that the one lane bridge will be used temporarily while a culvert is being arranged to replace the old one that was washed away.
Mr Posago said the temporary one lane bridge will allow big cargo container trucks to travel into the upper highlands provinces.In the past 13 days, from the night of Monday January 30, when the culvert was washed away to Saturday when the bridge was launched, the public traveling on the Highlands highway were forced to use a bypass around the damaged section paying fees to locals.
Meanwhile the Highlands highway from Chimbu province to Mt Hagen and beyond is in good condition and contractors were seen over the weekend fixing and maintaining the highway.
The Eastern Highlands section of the highlands highway is in a bad state and needs repair and maintenance. Post Courier/ ONEPNG