Burway Bridge works delayed

Burway Bridge, which carries the B4361 Coronation Avenue over the River Corve in Ludlow, will not be re-opening tonight as planned because of problems with the quality of the tarmac that has been laid.

The bridge was closed on Monday (13 October) for three days to enable the contractor to lay the final layer of tarmac on the road.

Unfortunately, when the tarmac was being laid, most of the large aggregate that it contained sank to the bottom of the layer leaving the road surface in an unacceptable condition. It is therefore necessary to remove this material and resurface the road before it can be re-opened.

The supplier of the tarmac, Tarmac Ltd, have inspected the laid material and confirmed that it was not to specification. They will therefore be paying for its replacement.

The bridge is now expected to be re-opened to both traffic and pedestrians on Saturday evening (18 October 2008).

Shropshire County Council is working in partnership with its consultants Mouchel and contractors McPhillips.

John Everall, Shropshire County Council’s Cabinet member for environment and sustainability, said “It is very disappointing to find that much of the hard work put into the last few days has been wasted as a result of something that was outside of the construction team’s control.

“It is appreciated that the extended road closure will cause further inconvenience, we will do all that we reasonably can to keep this to a minimum and ask for people’s patience. “

Peter Corston, Shropshire County Councillor for Ludlow, said: “It is unfortunate that these works have been delayed. I am confident that officers have everything under control and every effort will be made to correct the supplier’s mistake and reopen the bridge as soon as possible.”

15 October