With his eyes trying to encompass the Mediterranean’s endless expanse from above Bizerte Bridge, Muhammad Asharni deeply inhales a fall sea breeze. He opens his arms, recalling a past as large as the Mediterranean’s horizons and struggles to reminisce about Bizerte before the building of the mobile drawbridge, which he refers to as the “cement bogey man”.
With his eyes trying to encompass the Mediterranean’s endless expanse from above Bizerte Bridge, Muhammad Asharni deeply inhales a fall sea breeze. He opens his arms, recalling a past as large as the Mediterranean’s horizons and struggles to reminisce about Bizerte before the building of the mobile drawbridge, which he refers to as the “cement bogey man”.
“In the 1960s, there was no bridge. Ferries were the basic means of transportation between Bizerte and neighboring cities. There were two lines; Beb Tunis and Bizerte”, said Asharni and added with a cunning smile, “We also used to reach the other bank by fishing boats with lovers or friends.”
A drawbridge replacing ferries
There had been many means of transportation across the channel connecting Bizerte to the mainland, most prominently ferries. The idea of a drawbridge was suggested in the 1970s.
“The drawbridge at the time was a source of dazzle and astonishment. A press on the motor bottom lifts it, allowing huge ships to pass, and another makes it obediently go dopwn, to be passed by cars and pedestrians,” recalled 66 year-old Mnubi Bjawi. ”For my generation, the drawbridge was a proof of scientific miracles and development.”
The idea of building a drawbridge dates back to the occupation era when France decided to construct the first means to connect the channel banks and connect Bizerte and the other cities to the eastern side. In 1898, French engineer Arnodan designed a hanged carrier operated by huge engines and built it only to be shortly dismantled due to the war attacks the French Army expected the city to face.
In the 1960s, Tunisia seriously started to consider the implementation of the project, which was technically researched for four years. Implementation activities started in 1977, and the drawbridge, which was launched in 1980, fundamentally changed the life of the city as well as its people. Their lives moved from one era into another, the residents say.
Bjawi sees this bridge as more than a mere industrial machine. “It is filled with memories” he says. “From here,” adds Bjawi pointing to the place, “occupation forces left abortively in the Liberalization War and Bourguiba came triumphantly.”
From a blessing to a curse
Car horns blast through the air, traffic is gradually overcrowded, and within a while traffic movement stops. The bridge is about to be raised and all want to pass; but nobody is willing to wait.
Akram Khmiri, 27 years old, is disappointed at the traffic jam chaos, which causes him to be late for work and affects his temper in the morning. “Taxi drivers suffer a lot of the status quo,” Khmiri complained. “I pass the bridge many times a day, which makes me lose my temper and engage in verbal quarrels.”
There is always a traffic jam here, especially when the bridge is raised to let ships pass, which makes traffic completely paralyzed on both sides; from the city of Zarzouna and from Bizerte, whose streets are crowded with vehicles of all types, often leading to taxi drivers engaging in quarrels and even scuffles.
Ambulances reportedly faced difficulty in reaching the other bank. Once, a pregnant woman delivered her baby inside a car.
The most humorous incident that resulted from that traffic jam was a bride arriving late from the city of Menzel Abderrahmane to Bizerte, which upset her bridegroom and his mother, who received her by blaming and reproaching her on her wedding night.
“The drawbridge is a nightmare that makes me more sleepless day after day”, says Taher Ben Kamleh, the 47 year-old owner of a private enterprise in Bizerte. He often gets late in supplying the daily goods needed by his company customers, from the city of Menzel Jemil. This is why he decided to launch a new branch there.
The bridge impedes development
Abdulhamid, a resident of Bizerte believes that “the economic and commercial progress in the area is somehow limited due to the traffic jam over the bridge and the large number of heavy vehicles belonging to the plants and companies built in the area, which has negatively affected the economic investment and channeled it into other areas.”
The negative impact, according to Abdulhamid, affects not only the economic condition, but also the city’s tourism, especially during summer, when people living abroad come back and car lines reach beyond the transportation station in Zarzouna.
Having been an architectural and aesthetic boast for the people of Bizerte, the bridge has turned into a real problem and a fearful obsession for those using it. However, it is still the lifeline of the area because it connects Bizerte to the other areas of the country.
In 2008, a decision prohibiting vehicles over 40 tons from passing over the bridge was issued in order to decrease traffic. The decision, however, was not enforced until recently, when deadly accidents took place. The bridge was also re-asphalted.
The people of Bizerte consider these measures insufficient and demand the actualization of their dream of building a new bridge to solve the problems of transportation and traffic.
New Bridge
Mahdi Shalabi, Regional Manager of Bizerte Supply sees that the bridge’s traffic problem results from “the continuously increasing number of cars, and that the decision banning heavy cars is an important practical step that has clearly decreased traffic.”
Shalabi suggested conducting national and international studies as well as broadening consultancy by high-ranking bodies and experts in building drawbridges and that a new drawbridge or a tunnel is expected to be built. “A decision shall be made in light of the proposals put forward by the studies within two years,” he said.
Until then, Muhammad Asharni is still longing for a boat tour with no pollution or noise, a tour reminding him of the good old days.
