Vehicle monitoring equipment installed on Jubilee Bridge

New measures are being put in place to protect a key Mearns road bridge

Inverbervie’s Jubilee Bridge – which carries the A92 Stonehaven to Dundee road and is the main entrance to the town – has already had temporary barriers installed to protect its parapet.

Now “Weigh in Motion” technology, supplemented by number plate recognition cameras, is being installed to further protect the structure – singling out any vehicles crossing the bridge while they are heavier than the 44 tonne standard road weight limit.

The system will remain in place for up to four years, allowing council bridge engineers to gather better information on the structural damage inflicted on the crossing by overweight vehicles.

Aberdeenshire Council structures manager Donald Macpherson said: “I think the public are starting to become more aware of the importance of our bridges to the local transportation network, particularly where they have been inconvenienced by closures linked to vehicular damage.

“Given recent publicity around damage to some of our historic bridges, including Abbeyton Bridge, this technology may have the potential to be used in other locations, to identify vehicles contravening weight limits and causing damage.”

The work is being carried out at a cost of just over £150,000 and council engineers will be speaking to local residents who may be directly affected by the installation works.

The 1,700-feet-long bridge is an eight-span curve of reinforced concrete which opened in 1935.