Essential stabilisation work on A488 road at Wagbeach

Essential work to stabilise the edge of the A488 road in Wagbeach has started this week.

The length of road in question has been operating under traffic lights since November 2012 when the bank supporting the eastern edge of the road was found to have been damaged by flood water from a nearby river. 

The work involves moving a short length of the river further into the adjacent field, and placing boulders between the road and the realigned river to support the edge of the road. 

A footbridge, which crosses the river at this location and was closed in early November 2012 on an emergency basis after its foundations were found to have been undercut by water scour, will be temporarily removed.

The A488 road continues to remain open under traffic light control, and the traffic lights will be removed when the work is completed.

It is estimated that the work will last for a period of up to 6 weeks.

Because the existing footbridge will not be long enough to span the combined new stone boulder bank and realigned river, it will be necessary to replace it with a longer one.  It is intended that this will be done later in 2013 as a second phase of the scheme.

The contractor carrying out the work is Ringway, supervised by Mouchel on behalf of Shropshire Council.

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

‘‘The scheme has been chosen because it will enable the edge of the road to be stabilised without the need to close the road to do so.”

Tudor Bebb, local Shropshire Councillor for Minsterley, said:

“This is a job that needs doing urgently, and I am pleased it can be done without too much disruption to local residents and a busy traffic route.”