Burway Bridge update

Press release - 11 July 2007

Work to remove the recently collapsed Burway Bridge from the River Corve in Ludlow is now nearing completion and plans to replace it with a temporary bridge by the end of July remain on programme.

Burway Bridge, which carried the B4361 road, collapsed on 26 June during exceptionally heavy flooding leaving a 16m wide breach in one of the main routes into Ludlow.

The time needed to design a replacement bridge means that it will be summer 2008 before work can start on its construction. In order to accommodate traffic in the meantime, a temporary bridge is to be erected at the site. This will carry single lane traffic under traffic light control plus a footpath.

Gas, water and electricity services carried by the old bridge were all damaged during the collapse and made safe by isolating the affected lengths from the rest of the networks.

Although BT cabling also fell into the river with the bridge, they were fortunately not severed. Had they been, much of South Shropshire and beyond would have been without landline telecommunication services.

BT and their contractor spent five days on site diverting their services over a temporary scaffold bridge. Work could not start or removing the old bridge until this was complete.

Hand in hand with removing the old bridge, large stones are being laid in the river to protect its banks from further erosion. This is proving to be a bigger task than expected as the flood has scoured the river bed to such an extent that it is now about 3m deep compared to a previous depth of about 0.75m.

The erection of the temporary bridge itself will start in earnest early next week. The bridge, which will be 31.5m long, will be built on the road to the north of the river. It will then be pushed out over the river to sit on concrete foundations.

When complete, the temporary bridge will be approximately 1.2m above the existing road. Ramps will therefore have to be built up to it before it can be opened to traffic.

John Williams, Shropshire County Council’s principal bridge engineer, said: “It is appreciated that the road closure is causing disruption and inconvenience and we will do all that we reasonably can to reopen the road as soon as possible”.

The combined cost of the temporary and replacement bridges is expected to be in excess of £750,000.

Ends

For further information, call John Williams, on (01743) 252519.
For media contact, call Laura Owen, Communications Officer, Economy & Environment on (01743) 253318.