Westcountry bridges ‘weakest in the UK’
DEVON has the highest number of bridges in the country that are substandard and unable to carry the heaviest vehicles – closely followed by Somerset and Cornwall.
The news comes as the number of bridges unable to carry the heaviest vehicles on our roads is increasing, according to latest figures.
Some 3,105 council-owned bridges in Britain were substandard as of October 2020, according to data obtained by motoring research charity RAC Foundation. This is 50 more than during the previous year.
Many of these bridges are subject to weight restrictions, while others are under programmes of increased monitoring or even managed decline.
Devon has the highest number of substandard bridges at 233, followed by Essex (165), Somerset (153) and Cornwall (139).
Some are substandard because they were built to earlier design standards, while others have deteriorated through age and use.
Many bridges have been affected by flooding and hit by debris carried along by rivers this month.
And the problems are not confined to rural areas. Cracks in the pedestals of Hammersmith Bridge, west London, led to motor vehicles being prohibited from using the 133-year-old cast iron structure in April 2019.
It deteriorated further during a heatwave, leading to it being closed to all users in August 2020, causing disruption to journeys across the River Thames.
The part closure of the A52 Clifton bridge over the River Trent in Nottingham in February 2020 also caused traffic chaos.
Councils reported that 10 bridges across Britain had fully collapsed during the previous 12 months, with 30 suffering a partial collapse.
Of the 10 full collapses, seven were in Aberdeenshire, while Dumfries and Galloway, Caerphilly and Derbyshire had one each.
Despite these failures, the research indicates that there has been a decline in the number of bridges receiving an initial scour assessment for damage caused by river flow, down 9% year-on-year.
Between them, councils are responsible for maintaining 71,656 bridges, meaning 4.3% are substandard. Councils blame budget constraints for exacerbating problems.