Weymouth Town Bridge closed to all traffic from today due to repairs
It could be shut for at least the next month
Weymouth Town Bridge has been closed to all traffic.
The 92 year old bridge is undergoing the next stage of repair work.
Dorset Council say it will now stay closed until the work's finished in November.
Earlier this year, Dorset Council carried out testing on a section of the bridge – with part of the road surface removed to inspect the welds – after cracking was found in the road surface mirroring the welds and indicating a potential issue.
From the sample inspected, it’s likely that 25 per cent of the welds are affected and need replacing.
Jack Wiltshire, Dorset Council Head of Highways, said: “Weymouth Town Bridge has over 2,700 welds attaching the steel deck plates on to the bridge beams.
“We won’t know the true number of welds that need replacing until we remove the road surface and reveal the extent of the damage.
“If we don’t replace the welds, water will get through the deck plate to the beams and will start to cause corrosion to the body of the structure – causing much greater damage and threatening the operation of this vital lifting bridge.”
He added: “At 92 years old, the bridge is an important part of Weymouth’s heritage and continues to be a focal point in the town. The technical complexity of carrying out modern day repairs while protecting the historic features of the bridge is challenging, but the finished works will retain the previous look and feel. Maintaining a bridge used by modern day traffic when it was originally designed to take very different vehicles is a difficult task, but one that will be done sympathetically to the history of the bridge.”