As A Result Of The Cold Lava Flood Of Mount Semeru, The Kali Glidik II Lumajang Bridge Was Permanently Built

The Kaliregoyo suspension bridge was cut off due to the flood of Mount Semeru's rain lava in Lumajang, East Java. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The East Java-Bali National Road Implementation Center (BBPJN) of the Directorate General of Highways of the Ministry of PUPR will build the Kali Glidik II Bridge in Lumajang Regency, East Java.

The handling in the form of the construction of the new bridge was to replace the Kali Glidik II Bridge which was cut off due to the cold lava flood of Mount Semeru on Friday, July 7.

Head of BBPJN East Java-Bali Rakhman Taufik said, from the results of the field survey, it showed that technically the temporary handling option with the installation of a bailey bridge was not possible.

"In addition, the investigation at the location shows that one of the two pillars of the Kali Glidik II Bridge has been lost to the flood," Rakhman said in his official statement, Monday, July 10.

Rakhman said, with these conditions, the alternative temporary handling planned with the Bailey Bridge installation was not possible to be carried out at the existing location of the Kali Glidik II Bridge.

Because, there is one pillar missing which causes the strength of the Bailey Bridge to decrease, so that its safety factor drops to less than 25 tons.

"In addition, the height of the Bailey Bridge with existing pillars also has the potential to be hit by water if there is further flash floods," he said.

Therefore, it was decided that the option to handle the Kali Glidik II Bridge would be narrowed to the construction of bridges permanently in existing locations along 45 meters or longer than the existing bridge.

"So, the alternative is to build a permanent bridge along 45 meters or longer than the existing bridge. Incidentally, there is a steel frame stock at the Citeureup Bina Marga Warehouse (Bogor) which is ready to be mobilized," he said.

Later, said Rakhman, the construction process for the 45-meter permanent bridge will last about four months.

"For traffic flow and logistics, the flow to the north is diverted through Pasuruan and Probolinggo," he said.

For your information, the Kali Glidik II Bridge was built in 1970 and is currently 53 years old.

This bridge has a total length of 38 meters with a width of 6.80 meters. The building over this bridge is in the form of a Permanent Baja Gelagar and consists of 3 spans.