Major city bridge closing for six weeks

9:00am Friday 18th July 2008

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A BUSY bridge which carries 25,000 vehicles a day in and out of Worcester is to shut for major engineering works.

The Powick Bridge will be closed to traffic for six weeks from tomorrow until Sunday, August 31, for re-surfacing and waterproofing works with vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians diverted along other routes.

Engineers will also be working on nearby Powick roundabout adding road hatching marks and installing a new pedestrian crossing to link Hams Way to the main A449 Malvern Road.

Worcestershire County Council has budgeted £750,000 for the project which was scheduled to begin last year before the summer floods intervened.

Derek Prodger, county council cabinet member for environment, said: “What I want to do is give the public a safe bridge which will last another 100 years.”

He added the last refit on the bridge, dating from about the 1830s, had been carried out more than a century ago.

Workers will be stripping the existing road and pavement surface and inspecting the metal plates and structure below before re-laying a light-weight concrete, watertight membrane and new asphalt.

Click here for the full-size map

From 7am on Saturday road diversions will be in force to take traffic around the bridge works:

• Vehicles coming from the Powick direction into the city centre will be diverted along the A4440 Temeside Way towards the Ketch roundabout and then onto Bath Road.

• Traffic heading to St John’s or the west of the city will be directed along the A4440 Hams Way and diverted into the B4104 Bransford Road.

• Drivers coming from Malvern heading for west Worcester will be diverted from the A449 and along the B4503 through Leigh Sinton, to the AA103 and into St John’s via Bransford Road.

• Motorists from Welland have a choice of following the Malvern diversion route or, for the city centre, heading along the A4104 and at Upton-upon-Severn taking the A38 towards Kempsey and the Ketch roundabout. Meanwhile an alternative bus timetable will run for the numbers 31, 32, 32B, 33, 44/ 44A/44B, 294/295, 363 and 417 services.
• Pedestrians and cyclists will be able to use the historic Powick Bridge, accessed from Old Road, which lies about 100 yards west of the road bridge.

Richard Attwood, county council senior engineer for highways works, said: “We’ve had the benefit of having had a couple of major services leaving us with about 80 per cent of what we would have had to do last year.”

He added the contractors Laser had agreed to work up to six days a week and longer, if necessary, “to make sure we finish within six weeks.”

Bus route revisions:

• Buses which normally use the bridge will be diverted along Hams Way and Bransford Road, a temporary service will run between Malvern Road and Lower Wick, other services will be diverted to avoid congestion and additional vehicles laid on where delays are likely.

• The No 31 service will have a revised timetable and an extra bus laid on while the No 32 bus will be split.

• The No 32 bus between Baynall and Kempsey to Worcester city centre will operate as an independent service and the Ombersley Road section will be serviced by a No 32B which will continue from the city centre to Lower Wick along the Malvern Road.

• The No 33 bus timetable will be revised and the No 44/44A/44B service from Malvern to Worcester city centre, County Hall and the hospital will be diverted along Hams Way and Bransford Road.

• The No 294/295 Kidderminster to Worcester service via Stourport will not be stopping at Henwick Road Post Office and The No 363 Malvern to Worcester service, via Welland, Upton, Hanley Swan, Callow End, will be diverted along Hams Way and Bransford Road.

• There will also be a revised timetable for the No 417 service which runs between Ledbury and city centre via Cradley and Rushwick.

For full details of diversions and timetable changes call the Worcestershire Hub on 01905 765 765 or log on to worcestershire.gov.uk/powickbridgeclosure