USA Bridge in South Santo remains closed after quake damage

April 28, 2026 11:10 pm | Posted in Business News | Share now TwitterFacebook

By Bruce Tamata.

The newly constructed USA Bridge in South Santo has been closed after sustaining structural damage from the 7.2-magnitude earthquake on 30 March.

Three weeks after the earthquake, the bridge remains closed. Traffic has been diverted to a temporary crossing built before the old bridge was removed, which had earlier been declared unfit for use.

The bridge is part of Package 1 of the VT15 billion Vanuatu Climate Resilience Transport Project (VCRTP). Four of the 11 bridges built under this package have reported damage, ranging from minor to serious.

Of the four, USA Bridge has suffered the most severe impact and has been taken out of service by engineers.

The other affected bridges are Naoneban Bridge, Venue Bridge, and Venaus Bridge, which have recorded minor damage.

USA Bridge is a 70-metre, two-span steel-beam structure supported by a concrete pier in the river. It measures 8.95 metres in width and includes a 1.3-metre footpath.

It is the second-longest bridge in the package, after Navaka Bridge, which spans 210 metres across three sections and is supported by two piers.

A 2022 Environmental Assessment by the World Bank outlines the design approach for the project. The report sets a design life of 100 years for bridges and culverts, with structures intended to withstand rare seismic events based on a 1,000-year earthquake model.

This means the bridge should be able to withstand an extreme earthquake with a very low annual probability.

The report also outlines that scour protection should be designed for severe events expected once in 100 years, taking into account future climate conditions.

Concerns are now emerging over the durability of the new structures, as damage has appeared within months of completion following recent earthquakes.

Scour protection at several sites has already been compromised.

Data over time indicates that magnitude-7 earthquakes can occur more frequently than assumed in design models, raising questions about long-term performance.

Records show that Vanuatu experiences two to three magnitude-7 earthquakes every decade. Since 2016, three such earthquakes have occurred, with two causing major damage in urban centres.

In contrast, older structures such as the Sarakata Bridge have remained in service for decades despite repeated seismic activity.

USA Bridge has now been taken out of service after its first exposure to a 7.2-magnitude earthquake. Waialo Bridge, also recently built, has developed cracks following a 6.2-magnitude earthquake.

A road user from Tasiriki in South Santo, Roma Talata, said transport infrastructure must be built to withstand frequent seismic activity.

“Living in Vanuatu, earthquakes are common, so transport infrastructure must be resilient to both climate and seismic risks,” he said.

Authorities and development partners have yet to release details on the next steps for repairs or reopening.

Construction of USA Bridge was completed, and the structure entered a 12-month defects-liability period in January 2026.

This period runs until January 2027, during which the contractor remains responsible for repairs and quality control.

Package 1 was planned as a 24-month project, starting around September 2022 and expected to finish by September 2024. Delays have pushed parts of the work into 2025 and 2026.