"The new bridge will connect the central and northern routes of eastern Java region well,” PUPR Minister Basuki Hadimuljono noted in a statement here on Saturday.
Hadimuljono remarked that the new Ploso Bridge replaces the old Ploso Bridge that always trembles, especially in the event of a traffic jam.
The bridge was constructed in 463 days from September 25, 2020, to December 2021 by the state-owned construction company PT Waskita Karya (Persero) Tbk, with a budget of Rp137.7 billion.
The bridge was constructed by using the budget of the ministry's National Road Development Center (BPJN) for East Java and Bali regions.
Meanwhile, Member of the Commission V of Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) Sadarestuwati remarked that the residents of Jombang District have since long looked forward to the new bridge being constructed.
"The aspirations were put forward since 2011. Finally, the bridge could be built with the state budget in 2020. It was not easy since the road is not a national road, and there were also obstacles in land acquisition," she stated.
Technically, Ploso Bridge is an overpass with two branches, thereby resembling the letter Y, with a total length of 1.27 kilometers (km).
The bridge has four abutments with 13 pier pillars and seven-meter-wide lane. It is also equipped with a drainage system to handle any form of inundation when it is raining.
The new Ploso Bridge was built with two functional lanes as an alternative route to reduce the traffic load of the old existing Ploso Bridge, which is located 500 m from the new one.
