The Luoxi Bridge is currently safe for a restricted amount of traffic despite the 176 cracks found there, Guangzhou's transport authorities announced at a press conference Saturday.

Xian Weixiong, director of the city's communications committee, pledged to draw up a bridge repair plan immediately and implement the repairs "as soon as possible." He also pleaded with the public to bear with the inconvenience during bridge repairs.

The traffic departments carried out a thorough inspection of the Luoxi Bridge from Oct. 1 to 12 and spent 10 days analyzing the collected data. The inspection found 176 cracks on the bridge with the longest one 0.56m wide and 2.15m long.

Between 70,000 and 80,000 vehicles use the Luoxi bridge, which was built in 1988, every day. The four-lane bridge connects the urban districts with suburban Panyu,

The traffic authorities banned vehicles with more than seven seats and trucks from using the bridge starting July 6 in a bid to control congestion and prevent overloading. The ban does not apply to police cars, ambulances and other vehicles on emergency missions.

The city government canceled the five-yuan (US$0.6) toll for using the bridge on July 1.

Editor: Yan