Sweyney Bridge strengthening work delayed

The start of work to strengthen Sweyney Bridge, which carries the Broseley to Coalport road over a disused railway track near Station House, has been postponed until 23 September 2013. 

The scheme, which was originally due to start on Monday 14 January 2013, has been postponed because errors in the tenders received for the work have meant that it is necessary to re-tender the scheme. 

The work, which includes installing ground anchors to stabilise the bridge’s wing and spandrel walls, carrying out extensive structural repairs to the bridge’s arch barrel and improving the vertical alignment of the road over the bridge, is expected to take 9 to 10 weeks to complete.

Although most of the proposed work will be carried out with the road over the bridge open under traffic light control, it will unfortunately be necessary to close it to carry out some of the work safely.  It is therefore proposed to close the bridge from 4pm until 12pm on Mondays to Fridays for up to 10 days in late November 2013.

When the bridge is closed, traffic will be diverted via Broseley, The Free Bridge, The Lloyds and Coalport High Street.

Councillor Simon Jones, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member responsible for bridge maintenance said:

‘‘It is regrettable that it has been necessary to postpone the start of the work until September, and I hope that people can appreciate that it has been done for reasons that were outside the control of Shropshire Council.

‘’Although we have opted for evening road closures to minimise any disruption to the local community, it is appreciated that they will still cause some inconvenience.  Therefore, every reasonable effort will be made to keep the closure periods to a minimum.”

Jean Jones, local Shropshire Councillor for Broseley, said:

“We are very sorry for the unavoidable delay to this project and we will do our best to minimise disruption to drivers and local businesses.”