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Concerns over the state of road bridges

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date28 March 2024
Publication titleHuddersfield Daily Examiner
Motoring research charity the RAC Foundation, which carried out the analysis, expressed concerns over the impact of severe weather and a shortage of engineering skills

It found that local authorities identified 2,928 of the 73,208 bridges they are responsible for as being substandard at the end of last year.

This means they are too weak to be used by 44-tonne lorries, the heaviest vehicles allowed on public roads.

Many of these bridges are subject to weight restrictions, while others are under programmes of increased monitoring or even managed decline.

Some bridges are substandard because they were built to earlier design standards, while others have deteriorated through age and use.

The proportion of bridges that are substandard has fallen from 4.4% a year ago to 4.0%. Between them, local authorities said they would ideally want to bring 1,955 of their substandard bridges back up to full carrying capacity. But budget constraints mean they anticipate that only 292 will have the necessary work carried out on them within the next five years.

The bridge maintenance work backlog across Britain...

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