English road bridges to be reviewed after Genoa disaster

ROAD bridges across England will be inspected in the wake of the Genoa disaster, Highways England has announced.

The chief executive of the road operating body said a procedure review of the biggest structures is being carried out after 43 people died when a 200-metre section of the Morandi motorway bridge collapsed in the Italian city on Aug 14.

Jim O’sullivan said that the review was only “a precautionary measure”, but added that “given what’s happened in Italy one always takes a second look”.

He said that the largest structures would be looked at as part of checks which usually take place every two years. But when asked if a similar collapse could happen here, he replied: “No. Straightforward answer.”

He explained on BBC Radio 5 Live: “We have nothing that tells us that we might have a bridge that’s in any way in trouble like that,.

“The first thing is, we don’t have any bridges of a similar design, or designed the same way as that bridge is designed. The second is our maintenance regime here in the UK is very, very good.”

Mr O’sullivan said there were more than 20,000 structures on the road network, many sharing similar designs. Therefore the procedures will be reviewed based on design, rather than each structure being inspected.

Highways England said the review was focusing on procedures, not on the individual structure of bridges.

The Morandi Bridge had more than 25million vehicle crossings a year.

The cause of the disaster is not yet known, but there has been heavy criticism of its private operators.