Poole Bridge will close for one week from Monday 21 September to enable pre-planned, essential maintenance to be carried out.
The bridge will be closed to all road traffic, including cyclists and pedestrians, from 7am. During the closure, the Twin Sails Bridge will be operating as normal and there will be no significant disruption to marine traffic.
The works being carried out include:
inspection and maintenace of gear boxes, drive motors and other main mechanical items
servicing lubrication system compressors
refurbishment and adjustment of nose bolts
adjust alignment of lifting leaves
repairs to lighting systems
checks and minor adjustments to the control systems
cleaning counter balance weight pits and sliding barrier guide channels
John Rice, Engineering Manager, Borough of Poole, said, “We want to keep our lifting bridges operating efficiently and reliably in the long term and to achieve this we need to carry out preventative maintenance in a planned way. By closing Poole Bridge outside of peak times in the year, we will be able to minimise disruption to residents, who will always have one bridge available.”
The planned maintenance arrangements for Poole’s two lifting bridges are being implemented as:
both bridges require regular essential maintenance to reduce the risk of breakdowns, minimise the risk of expensive repairs and maintain public safety
it is becoming increasingly expensive to undertake work overnight
external suppliers, who carry out maintenance of the control systems, hydraulics and high voltage electrical equipment, can be booked in advance
working in September and March avoids winter weather conditions, which can delay the progress of works
one bridge will still be available for road users
The annual closure of the Twin Sails Bridge will take place in March for up to one week.
