Poole Bridge will close for one week from Monday 22 September to enable pre-planned, essential maintenance to be carried out.
The bridge will be closed to 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 of bridge bearings
- repair and adjustment of nose bolts
- changing lamps on main lighting system
- checks and minor adjustments to the control systems
- replacing four CCTV cameras that are no longer serviceable
- repair and replace damaged copper cladding to the bridge towers
- re-securing underwater ducts following damage caused by last winter’s storms and other under water checks
- refreshing road markings
While Poole Bridge is closed, it is anticipated some work will also be carried out in Blandford Road by the developer of the former Pilkington tiles site. This work has been scheduled to coincide with the bridge closure as there will generally be less traffic using the roads during that period. Temporary traffic signals will be used to manage the traffic, with manual control at peak times.
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.
