Bridges

Adomi Bridge

The Adomi Bridge, originally named the Volta Bridge, crosses the Volta River between Atimpoku and Adome about 9 km downstream from the Akosombo dam. It is technically a hybrid arched suspension bridge, the deck being suspended from 20 pairs of cables below a trussed steel arch. The bridge has a span of 245 m and the height of the arch is 67 m. The project was administrated by Sir William Halcrow & Partners, but the bridge itself was designed by Gilbert Roberts (1899-1978) & William Brown (1928-2005), working for Freeman Fox & Partners. The concept and novel features were almost entirely due to Roberts, who had worked under Sir Ralph Freeman on the design of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1924. Nothing similar had been built before, and instead of being painted, which would have been susceptible to fungal attack, all the steelwork was grit-blasted and zinc-coated before shipment to site. The bridge was built from March 1955 to November 1956 and as the plaque shows, it was "unveiled by the Honourable Kwame Nkrumah LL.D., M.L.A., Prime Minister of the Gold Coast, on 25th January 1957 to commemorate the opening of the bridge by His Excellency Sir Charles Noble Arden-Clarke, G.C.M.G., Governor of The Gold Coast". Just 40 days later, the Gold Coast became independent Ghana.

GPN does not yet have any information about the meaning of 'Adomi'.

Sources:

• Kerensky, O.A. “Gilbert Roberts. 18 February 1899-1 January 1978.” Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, vol.25,1979, pp.477–503

• Kwofie, R.O., "A Mathematical Model of a Suspension Bridge, Case Study: Adomi Bridge", Thesis, KNUST, 2011

Ankobra Bridge

The 134 m (440 ft) bridge across the mouth of the Ankobra was included in the Five-Year Development Plan of General I. K. Acheampong's Supreme Military Council in which it was stated that "This bridge forms part of the Accra-Abidjan International Highway. The concrete bridge when completed, will replace the existing old ferry." But it was Dr. Hilla Limann's subsequent government (1979-81) that "cut the sod for the commencement of work ... by Cementation Ltd.". The bridge connects Nzema East District with Ellembelle District on the west. There is a nearby town on the west side of the bridge called Sanwoma, or often just Ankobra, but on the east side only a toll booth and the Ankobra Beach Resort.

The River Ankobra was named after the cobra because of its snaky course.

Sources:

• Five-Year Development Plan 1975/76-1979/80 Part II, January 1977

• Agape Kanyiri Damwah, "Hilla Limann 1934–1998: His Life and Times", Thesis, UCC, 2011

Ankobra Railway Bridge

The bridge crosses the River Ankobra between Ankobra Junction and Prestea on the 19-mile branch line from Tarkwa on the Western Line. It was constructed by contractors employed by the Gold Coast Government to build the first railway in the country from 1898 to 1901. Following the discovery of gold at Tarkwa an economically viable alternative to river and land transport of machinery from, and mineral to, the coast had to be found. The building of the railway cut the costs from £40 to £5 per ton. F. Talbot described the bridge as having "four spans - two approach each of 45 feet, one of 90 feet, and a central span of 180 feet respectively. The erection of the main big span was carried out on the overhang or cantilever system, the spans on either side being used as anchorages. The bridge is of the half-through, or “trough” type, supported upon concrete piers 40 feet in height." It has the distinction of being featured as No.4 in a series of 50 Churchman's Cigarette cards issued in 1931 called "Empire Railways".

Sources:

• Churchman's Cigarette Cards

• Frederick A. Talbot, Railway Wonders of the World, The Railway Invasion of the Gold Coast, Cassell & Co. Ltd., 1913-14

• Railway Wonders of the World, Railways of the Commonwealth - 7. The Gold Coast & 28. The Sekondi-Coomassie Railway, Amalgamated Press, 1935

Bamboi Bridge

Built in 1980 by The Cementation Company, the 680 ft Bamboi Bridge replaced the ferry over the Black Volta on the N12 road from Wenchi to Wa, crossing from New Longoro on the south bank to Bamboi on the north. It was listed as one of ten bridges to be built in the Five-Year Development Plan of General I. K. Acheampong's Supreme Military Council, and was built during the short presidency of Dr. Hilla Limann (1979-81).

GPN does not yet have any information about the meaning of 'Bamboi'.

Sources:

• Five-Year Development Plan 1975/76-1979/80 Part II, January 1977

• Agape Kanyiri Damwah, "Hilla Limann 1934–1998: His Life and Times", Thesis, UCC, 2011

Buipe Bridge

The bridge across the Black Volta on the road heading north from Kintampo was originally referred to as the Morno Bridge, because the village of Morno on the north side of the river was closest to the intended crossing. The village of Buipe (now Old Buipe) was further to the north, and west of the present-day Buipe town that is the district capital of Central Gonja. Even as late as 1985, a World Bank report refers to the necessity of "repairing 12 km of road approaches to the two bridges at Yapei and Morno which are eroded and nearly collapsing". Geoffrey Wood (1911-2007) of Ove Arup & Partners gives a detailed description of the decisions which had to be made about the design of the bridge, which was to be built in anticipation of the flooding of the Volta due to the concurrent Akosombo Dam project. Thus, the principal building material, steel, was determined by the terms of the loan scheme, and the 40 ft maximum length of the girders, by the bends in the road on the Mampong scarp, along which the components would have to be transported. The result was a 750 ft "open latticed girder" bridge "with "piece-small construction bolted together with high tensile steel bolts". The bridge was built by The Cementation Company and completed in 1965. The formal opening of both this bridge (completed 1965) and a similar one at Yapei was performed on 19 November 1966 by Mr. J. M. Kporvie, Chairman of the Regional Administrative Committee of the Northern Region.

'Buipe' means 'Heavy Home'.

Sources:

• The World Bank, Ghana Priorities for Public Expenditures, 1986-1988

• The Arup Journal, July 1966, G. Wood, "The Volta Bridges"

• Reuters, New Bridges Over The Black Volta River Opened To Traffic, 22 November 1966

Damanko Bridge

Crossing the River Oti between Damanko in the Oti Region and Opejua in the Northern Region, Damanko Bridge (or Oti River Bridge) was built in 1994-5 by the British construction company Mabey & Johnson, and opened by President Jerry Rawlings on 29 January 1996. It is a trussed beam bridge with 5 spans having a total length of 290 m. The central span is 80 m long.

GPN does not yet have any information about the meaning of 'Damanko'.

Sources:

GhanaWeb: Prez Commissions Bridge

Himan Bridge

Himan is a suburban town on the north-east outskirts of Prestea, and its main road forms a junction with the road through Prestea close to the River Ankobra. From there, the Prestea road continues north-east, crossing the river, affording a good view of both the river and the old railway bridge at a distance of about 150 m on the downstream side.

The name 'Himan' is derived from 'ohene man', meaning 'King's Town'.

Huniano Bridge

About 10 km from Tarkwa the road northwards crosses the River Huni, which divides two small hamlets which a LOGODEP map identifies as Huniano Nos. 1 & 2. A small truss bridge has been replaced by a concrete beam bridge, and the former can be seen by the side of the latter in Street View.

'Huniano' means 'Bank of the River Huni'.

Mmetiamu Bridge

Mmetiamu is not found on most maps, but shown as Metiamu on US map NB30-8. In a letter to the Daily Graphic quoted in Richard Atkinson's blog, Godwin Yirenkyi describes the Mmetiamu Bridge as follows:

"Near the Asuoyaa Bridge and close to the former Accra-Kumasi railway line is another unique bridge built over the Densu River in 1911 by the Swiss missionary and civil engineer, Jacob Isliker, on behalf of the enterprising pioneer cocoa farmers who migrated from the Akuapem Mountains to establish the early cocoa farms around the river. Called the Mmetiamu footbridge and known locally as the 'wharf', it is one of the oldest bridges in the country and though it looks strong, the need for some maintenance cannot be ruled out. The tourism importance of this bridge would be appreciated when it is recalled that is probably the only one of its kind in Africa. Dr Polly Hill, formerly of the University of Ghana in her book, 'Migrant Cocoa Farmers of Southern Ghana (1970)', described it as 'a splendid and historic landmark that should be preserved as a monument to the business enterprise of the first cocoa farmers due to its uniqueness in Africa'."

Polly Hill enlarges on the motivations and initiatives of the farmers:

"As they moved westwards the farmers did not neglect their earlier acquired lands - indeed many of them continued to live permanently on the springboard, visiting the other lands periodically and perhaps installing wives or sons there. They were, therefore, much concerned to improve the approach across the Densu, particularly in the rainy season, and shortly before 1914* Akwapim farmers engaged contractors to build, at a cost of several thousand pounds, three strong wooden bridges over the river at Mangoase, Mmetiamu (near Asuoya railway station) and Bibianiha, about four miles farther north. *{Footnote} ... began in 1911, ... probably being opened to passengers, who paid tolls of 3d, in April 1914. .. The Mmetiamu bridge cost about £1,680, subscribed by about a dozen farmers, mostly Larteh but including some Mamfe men."

GPN suggests that the meaning of the name may be "Oil Palm Border".

Sources:

• Godwin Yirenkyi, Daily Graphic, Letters, 9 January 2009

• Richard in Koforidua, The Mmetiamu Bridge

• Polly Hill, “The History of the Migration of Ghana Cocoa Farmers” Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana, vol. 4, no. 1, 1959, pp. 14–28

• Polly Hill, "The Migrant Cocoa-farmers of Southern Ghana: a Study in Rural Capitalism", CUP, 1963

Nasia Bridge

The town of Nasia is about halfway between Tamale and Bolgatanga and just north of the River Nasia. The bridge across the river is a triple span truss bridge with two walkways and is about 95 m long, similar to, but shorter than, Pwalugu Volta Bridge. Only the most southerly of the spans crosses the river channel itself, the other two being needed to traverse the flood plain.

The town is named after the River Nasia.

Praso Bridge

Praso Bridge crosses the River Pra on the Yamoransa-Kumasi road connecting the communities of Assin Praso (Central Region) on the south to Adansi Praso (Ashanti Region) on the north side. The original bridge was built c.1936. It is a three-span truss bridge with a length of 82 m (17 m, 48 m,17 m) . The steel girders from which the bridge is made are stamped "Dorman Long & Co. Ld. Middlesbrough England", who were presumably the contractors. In 2012 a new bridge was in the early stages of construction on the west side of the old, by the Japanese company Tokura Corporation, and completed by the end of the following year.

'Praso' means 'On the River Pra'.

Sources:

• Japan International Cooperation Agency, "Anwiankwanta / Yamoransa Road Rehabilitation Project"

• Graphic Online, "Prez inaugurates Asante Bekwai-Assin Praso road", 2 Feb 2014

Pwalugu Bridges

On the south-east side of Pwalugu there are two bridges; the nearer traverses a strip of land separating two seasonal lagoons, and the further crosses the White Volta.

Pwalugu Lagoon Bridge replaces an earlier three-span construction with attractive arched parapet walls. It still exists on the east, as can be seen in the Street View image. The absence of water in the lagoons (compare satellite image) indicates their seasonal nature and may be the reason for the name of the town.

Pwalugu Volta Bridge is a triple span truss bridge with two walkways and is about 120 m long.

'Pwalugu' is an exonym for Kologu, as seen on older maps, and may mean 'seasonal water'.

Sogakope Bridge

The Lower Volta Bridge is the most southerly crossing of the River Volta, connecting Sokpoe on the west side with Sogakope on the east, by which name the bridge is now normally known. It is a multispan multi-web T-beam bridge made of prestressed and reinforced concrete, and was built by two German contractors, A.H.I. Bau AG (Düsseldorf) and Held & Francke Bau AG (Munich), between January 1965 & January 1967. At 650 m it is the longest bridge in Ghana.

'Sogakoƒe' means 'Soga's Village'.

Sources:

Wikipedia (Deutsch), Lower Volta Bridge

Twifo Praso Railway Bridge

The bridge at Twifo Praso was originally a railway bridge on the Central Line. It is now only used for vehicular and pedestrian traffic as a link between Twifo Praso and Dunkwa-On-Offin. Following concerns about its state of disrepair, it was shut down for a month's maintenance work on 13th March, 2019. However a replacement bridge was subsequently planned and President Akufo-Addo formally opened the project during a visit to the town on 20th August 2020. The contractors are China Railway No.5 Engineering Group Co. Ltd., and the new 160 m bridge will be of prestressed & reinforced concrete continuous box girder construction. It will have three spans of 45 m, 70 m and 45 m length.

Yapei Bridge

Yapei Bridge was designed by Ove Arup & Partners and built by The Cementation Company at the same time and to the same specifications as Buipe Bridge (originally called Morno Bridge, see above). It crosses the White Volta (despite the Reuter news report) at Yapei, also known as Tamale Port, because the the river is navigable from the Volta Lake and Tamale is only 45 km away by direct road. The bridge is 750 ft long and has a carriageway of about 20 ft in width with a walkway on both sides. Geoffrey Wood 's 1965 image shown, kindly supplied by Arup and used with permission, is captioned in their Anniversary Journal as follows:

In anticipation of the damming of the Volta river, two bridges were built at Morno and Yapei. They were designed in steel to satisfy the Export Credits Guarantee Department's financing arrangements and high tensile bolted open lattice girders were used instead of continuous plate girders because access to the site imposed a length limit of 40 ft. The twin circular column piers were necessary to reduce the effect of the heavy angular current during the rains.

Both Yapei Bridge and Buipe Bridge were formally opened on the same day, 19 November 1966, by Mr. J. M. Kporvie, Chairman of the Regional Administrative Committee of the Northern Region.

'Yapei' means 'Footprints Home'

Sources:

• Reuters, New Bridges Over The Black Volta River Opened To Traffic, 22 November 1966

• The Arup Journal, July 1966, G. Wood, "The Volta Bridges"

• The Arup Journal, 25th Anniversary Issue, April 1971, "Fig. 39, Volta River Bridges, Completed : 1965"