Excavator struck bridge
● AN excavator working on the Mersey Gateway bridge project has been revealed as the vehicles involved a collision with a railway bridge that brought traffic mayhem to Widnes.
Motorists reported being caught in jams of up to two hours and 20 minutes during rush hour last Thursday, January, 25, after Halton Council shut the link between Waterloo Road exiting West Bank to Victoria Road.
Network Rail revealed on Friday that the vehicle involved in the bridge strike was an excavator with Merseylink and it had been contracted by the Mersey Gateway construction consortium.
Fuming drivers had initially thought the road closure was due to maintenance works but authorities confirmed it was due to a collision.
The transport agency said the machine had been ‘passing by’ when it was in collision with the bridge just before 8.10am on Wednesday, January 24, a day before the closure for urgent repairs.
Halton Council said on Thursday that trains had been stopped from crossing the bridge and were expected to be running again by the following morning.
British Transport Police, which sometimes responds to bridge strikes, said it had received no reports.
A Halton Council spokeswoman said it was not known where the excavator was heading or whose it was.