lukavac

Lukavac bridge launching

By Sgt. Roger Jones

First published in SFOR Informer #48, November 11, 1998

Lukavac - On October 24, the Romanian Engineers of the 96 Engineer Battalion, held a ceremony to officially open a 59-metre Mabey and Johnson (M&J) bridge, as well as a 165-metre bypass road in Lukavac, a town 11 kilometres from Tuzla in Multinational Division-North.

The new bridge, which runs parallel to the old bridge, will replace the Mabey and Johnson bridge constructed June 21, 1996 by Romanian and American Engineers of IFOR, according to Capt. Radu Bulmac, Road and Bridge Coy commander. "The new bridge will allow us to break down the bridge constructed by IFOR," said Bulmac.

"The IFOR bridge was built atop a local bridge that was destroyed during the war. The original bridge will eventually be repaired and replace the M&J we’ve just completed. However, it will be constructed by a local company," he added.

The project to replace the M&J bridge began September 7, and should have been completed prior to October 24. However, the 25-man crew had to negotiate a couple of obstacles first. "We had difficulty ordering materials," explained Bulmac. "We just couldn’t get the equipment we needed to complete the job. However, thanks to the help of our friends in the Belgian-Luxembourgian Battle Group (BELU-BG) we managed to eventually get the materials," said Bulmac.

Bulmac also added that they had to break for one additional week, because the tours of some of the engineers who initially started the project had ended.

While help from the BELU-BG was essential to mission accomplishment, they also received assistance from the Swedish Battalion., according to Warrant Officer Alexandru Costel, a member of the Road and Bridge Coy. "We received lodging assistance from Sierra Base and we often ate lunch at Camp Oden , said Costel. "There wasn’t anything we asked for, we didn’t get," he added."

While the Romanian Engineers were happy they had completed the bridge, they did not have long to celebrate. "For some, the completion of a project means it is time to celebrate. For us, it means it is time to start another project," concluded Bulmac.

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