Who decides when road bridges get repaired/replaced?

[Kryten2340]

Hi,

As the title says can someone tell me who makes the decision when to close a road where it crosses a railway line so that the bridge over it can be repaired or replaced?

For example close to where I live a key route in Gateshead that goes from Low Fell and the surrounding area to the A1 at Team Valley Trading Estate is closed from now until February whilst the bridge over the East Coast mainline can be replaced. Obviously the work is critical and needs doing but what I fail to understand is why now in the run up to Christmas and why couldn't it have been done earlier on in the year.

This is a key route to the A1/factories on the Team Valley and as such all traffic is being diverted through the local area. This of course is unavoidable however why couldn't it have been done in say the summer compared to now?

 

[Bald Rick]

The relevant highways authority. They have to approve all highway closures.

 

[cjmillsnun]

The summer is normally when Utilities carry out their maintenance, so many roads are dug up at that time.

There is never a good time to close a road, especially a major route, but they are stuck with a few factors.

What other work is going on in the area? As I said above, utilities do their maintenance in the summer. This could mean other local roads are blocked or contractors who can do the work aren't available.

In this case, when can Network Rail grant access? There will be times when a possession may be required meaning the railway will be closed and the OHLE de-energised or even dewired temporarily (You don't want 25kV near work to replace a bridge.) It is likely Network Rail have co-ordinated it with other works nearby keeping the possession time to a minimum. Again these other works are dependent on availability of contractors and equipment which may be needed elsewhere first.

Those are just two factors that are taken into account when the highway authority responsible (it could be the local authority or Highways England as this work is in England).

 

[Haydn1971]

As the title says can someone tell me who makes the decision when to close a road where it crosses a railway line so that the bridge over it can be repaired or replaced?

Depends on what the regular bridge inspection report says - better to shut the road and repair / replace if necessary than let something fail, especially if part of the bridge is about to drop on the railway.

 

[jopsuk]

is the work centred around Christmas so that the key work over the railway can be carried out in the Christmas engineering period?

 

[EbbwJunction1]

They're replacing or altering three of the bridges on the main line through Newport during Christmas and New Year to prepare for the electrification of the line.

The work will cause quite a lot of chaos, but the question is "when can they do it when it won't??"

 

[Philip Phlopp]

is the work centred around Christmas so that the key work over the railway can be carried out in the Christmas engineering period?

There are so many bridges being worked on this Christmas, but from memory, I'm sure it needs a Christmas closure because there are OLE works associated with the bridge.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

There's a bridge under repair at Barnetby on the South Humberside mainline which has a weight restriction preventing buses from crossing. The work is taking forever as only 2 hours a week have actual repairs as the railway is busy.
So although it's the highway authority that decides to repair a bridge, they are forced to wait til there's no trains running.

 

[Donny Dave]

There's a bridge under repair at Barnetby on the South Humberside mainline which has a weight restriction preventing buses from crossing. The work is taking forever as only 2 hours a week have actual repairs as the railway is busy.
So although it's the highway authority that decides to repair a bridge, they are forced to wait til there's no trains running.

Right outside the works at Melton Ross. Because of the restriction, the roadworks have been in place for roughly 2 years now, with the appropiate chaos locally, especially when the A180 is shut for any reason!