Friday 9 March 2012

Tenbury Teme Bridge now open


Tenbury Teme Bridge is now open for traffic.  The refurbishment of the top side of the bridge was completed one week ahead of schedule, but work to the underside will continue for a few more weeks.

Worcester County Councils Report.

28 comments:

Ian said...

BRILLIANT! Just off to a concert in Birmingham so no diversion via Stanford Bridge. What a relief! Good work by the contractors.

Anonymous said...

See the bridge was gridlocked again! (not)

Mr.Longbeard said...

Sooooo smooth...

Anonymous said...

How are we going to cope. Up to three Tesco delivery lorries a day. The bridge is already constantly gridlocked:)

Anonymous said...

Why have they made the road narrower?

Anonymous said...

The road does seem a lot narrower than it was. Noticed a lot of cars resorting to using the pavement already to get passed larger vehicles.

Ian said...

And I thought it looked wider!!! Optical illusion created by the (new?) very thin double yellow lines

Mr.Longbeard said...

It's been a while since I've been able to drive across , but, I passed another car on the bend and it felt like the normal width to me..

Anonymous said...

Several accidents on the bridge already - look at the amount of tyre rubber on the kerbs

Bumblebee said...

Funnily enough I thought that it was a nice finish but that the road did seem slightly narrower than previously.

I wonder if the 'old' pavements weren't quite up to modern highways spec in some way and that they have been widened slightly? But having said that, English Heritage have been pretty tight about just what they could and couldn't do in terms of variations..

Can anyone give us a definitive angle on this?

@WR15 said...

Not a definitive answer, but road width seemed the same to me.

Someone did wonder if the track of the road was slightly different at the kink. The downstream pavement used to narrow slightly at that point and the upstream was slightly wider. Wonder if this has been equalised.

Anonymous said...

The downstream pavement is wider and the road is narrower.
The pavement was too narrow, but now the road is too narrow.
We need a new bridge, fit for today.

@WR15 said...

In your opinion!

Anonymous said...

Not opinion - fact.
When I wheeled **** across the bridge and met ******, as happens most weeks, there was a bit of a problem, as in many places the pavement was not wide enough for us to pass, so we had to pick our place to pass.
Now we can pass easily, so the narrow parts of the pavement must be at least three inches wider than they were.
This is the pavement on the Swan Garage side.

@WR15 said...

That kind of support the theory that the track is slightly different, but just because one pavement is slightly wider doesn't confirm that the road is narrower.

The bridge is never going to be replaced. So the best you can hope for is a new bridge. This might resolve the traffic issue, but would mean the shops once again lost their passing trade.

The new bridge wouldn't be given permission (under current laws) in the vicinity of the old bridge.

Bumblebee said...

Er - just come back to this thread..

Hang on a min.. If the bridge hasn't been widened at all (pretty sure that didn't happen) and there's an acknowledged widening of pavement(s) in places.. Then surely the conclusion would be that the road (in places) is indeed even narrower than it was previously?

@WR15 said...

The opposite pavement has been reduced.

The original road track cut the corner slightly at the apex of the kink. This left the downstream pavement slightly narrow and the upstream slightly wider (we are only talk a couple of inches). This seems to have been equalised by taking a bit from the upstream pavement where is was wider and adding to the downstream pavement where it was narrower, therefore leaving the road the same width.

Anonymous said...

Ive heard of at least two collisions already.Poor driving or narrower brdge ?.

@WR15 said...

It amazing how fast people have forgotten that the bridge is narrow (as it has been for over 100 years). At least one accident was someone trying to drive up the curb, which of course are now regulation height and not worn down. Result - One damaged wheel.

RichTea said...

Yes, now that the kerbs are regulation height, no-one in their right mind in an ordinary car will try to mount the kerb because wheels, particularly those with low profile tyres, will suffer damage and/or tracking distortion.

Perhaps signs warning motorists of (a) narrow road (b) bend (c)oncoming traffic in middle of road (d) high kerbs (e) proceed with caution would be appropriate - for the benefit of strangers and visitors.

I wonder how long it will be before traffic lights are installed ?

Anonymous said...

Does this mean the kink in the road is sharper than it was before the work?

@WR15 said...

Rich Tea - See photo above.

Trouble is some people are in too much of a hurry to be bothered with road signs.

Mr.Longbeard said...

What good would signage serve? if you're not paying attention to the bleedin' obvious road right in front of you why would you bother to read a road sign.

Anonymous said...

There is no road narrows sign on the Shropshire side

Dj said...

Well all i can say is people did nothing but moan about when the bridge was closed now its open you lot are still moaning just no pleasing some people get a life

Rapper said...

Dj I must say telling people to get a life is kind of rude and there is no need for that.

Dj said...

I know the bridge is open and the car park on burford side was only tempary but was there any need to go to all the expense of tarmacing it if they were going to rip it all back up so soon as they have what a waste of money surely it would of been a good idea to keep it as a pay and display car park now that planning has been given for the cattle market

@WR15 said...

This idea was discussed at the Town Council meeting but there were a few problems.
1. The surface was only a temporary one & had already started to break up. (I think all of the products will be recycled)
2. It would be against policy as the field floods.
3. The removal was part of the contract so couldn't be delayed.
I have also heard, but cannot confirm that the owner only allowed the use for a limited period.