A section of Sanyuan Bridge is blocked off for repairs. Photo: Wang Zi

By Yan Shuang and Chen Jing

Traffic on the East Third Ring Road was partially cut off for repairs after cracks were found in the Sanyuan Bridge on the northeast section of the road, revealing the iron bars of the structure.

Cracks appeared and cement fell from the Third Ring Road's Sanyuan Bridge on Wednesday. The ongoing emergency repair work that started the same day required two of the four lanes to be blocked, causing serious traffic jams that started at about 2 pm Wednesday, according to a Beijing Youth Daily report. It will take three to four days to complete the repairs, according to the repair crew leader.

Beijing Gonglian, responsible for road and bridge repairs within the Fourth Ring Road, sent 14 employees to the Sanyuan Bridge, including repairmen and traffic wardens.

The leader of the repair crew, surnamed Li, told the Global Times, "We arrived at around 1 pm on Wednesday and have been doing repairs ever since, even though there was a heavy rain on Wednesday evening."

The repairmen have removed the cement from the cracked area, which is 21 meters in length and 1.8 meters wide, and surrounded it with barricades so that vehicles cannot pass. Now the steel supports of the nearly 40-square-meter area are exposed.

Sanyuan Bridge is at the junction of the Third Ring Road, Jingshun Road and the Airport Expressway. Built in 1984, the Sanyuan Bridge has always been one of the most congested areas in Beijing, and repairs to the lane have only aggravated the situation. Four wardens were dispatched to help regulate traffic.

A resident surnamed Ma told the Global Times Thursday that she commutes past the bridge every day. "It takes me about half an hour every day to go to work, but today it took me almost three hours," she said.

Relevant departments have made a comprehensive plan to ease the traffic, according to a Legal Mirror report, including deviating vehicles to both nearby and distant roads. Residents will be kept posted of traffic conditions via traffic radio and the Internet.

Another Beijing Gonglian employee who refused to be named told the Global Times, "The bridge was built decades ago, so it's the aging of it that has caused the cracks."

Although Wednesday's rain didn't delay operations, Li said repairs will still take up to four days to finish. Barring any unanticipated disasters, the repairs can ensure the safety of the bridge for about 30 years, he said.

According to the Beijing Gonglian employees on the bridge, the city's roads and bridges are all subjected to annual quality and safety checks. A spokesman surnamed Liu with the Beijing Quality Supervision Station of Roads and Projects told the Global Times that the Beijing Municipal Roadway Administration Bureau is responsible for Sanyuan Bridge's regular checks and repairs.