Liberia: More Crashes at Damaged Janapita Bridge as Motorists Demand Repairs

Published: October 6, 2026

BONG COUNTY – A three-vehicle crash at a deep, unmarked hole in the middle of the Janapita Bridge sent several people to the hospital, motorists said, the latest in a run of accidents at the same spot on the Ganta highway that has drivers demanding emergency repairs from the government.

Earlier crashes at the location involved a taxi and a truck, according to motorists familiar with the situation. No warning sign, barrier or other marker alerts drivers approaching the hole, and vehicles now swerve toward the edges of the bridge to avoid it, creating added risk for traffic moving in opposite directions.

Melvin Lee, whose green car was among the vehicles in the latest crash, said nothing warned him the hole was there.

“I was driving to pass through, but there was nothing placed here to indicate that there was a hole,” Lee said. “I bounced in the hole and made an accident, and my car spoiled. The other car was coming and hit my car, and they made an accident too.”

Photos from the scene show a damaged green sedan lying across the roadway and another vehicle overturned on the roadside.

Lee questioned why the damage has been left on a highway that senior officials travel.

“You know, the government we get in this country is really making us feel bad,” he said. “We don’t expect that this road, which is being used by government officials, including the Vice President, should have this deep cut in the middle and they are wasting time to address the issue.”

“Those things should not be happening,” he said. “If this was a renowned country and if I had a lawyer, I could use the government.”

Other drivers affected by the crashes said motorists pay into the national road fund through taxes and other charges but still face dangerous road conditions.

Some drivers said police officers from Gbarnga came to the bridge after the accidents and looked at the damaged section, then left and have not returned. The hole remains unrepaired and unmarked, the drivers said.

Bong County Development Officer Sedekie Kromah told The Liberian Investigator on Monday that county officials have inspected the damage and are referring it to Monrovia.

“The county administration, in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Works local office, visited the damaged section, took down the information and promised to send it to the Ministry of Public Works in Monrovia for redress,” Kromah said.

Kromah did not say when repairs would begin or whether the county would mark or barricade the section in the meantime.

The Janapita Bridge carries commercial vehicles, private motorists and government convoys along the Ganta highway. Motorists are calling on the Ministry of Public Works to secure and repair the section before someone is killed.