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I've heard today from a pal from the Bristol area that the old Severn Bridge is to close forever soon. . I cannot find any source which confirms this, but I would not be suprised as the cost of repairing the bridge must be massive and with the Second Severn crossing taking most of the traffic the bridge is no longer strictly necessary. However it is such a majestic bridge it would be a shame to lose it.
Due to corrosion in the bridge cables I believe that HGV's are to be banned from it, but there are certainly no plans to close it altogether that I'm aware of.
It already has a 44T weight limit, which presumably can be further reduced if neccessary.
Obviously with the new bridge this wouldn't be as catastrophic for traffic flows as it would be with the Forth Road Bridge, but all the same it would be a travesty to lose a national landmark.
Bryn Terminally cynical, unimpressed, and nearly Middle Age already. She said life was like a motorway; dull, grey, and long.
Michael wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if the bridge was closed to everything but cars and motorbikes - surely less strain on the bridge means less maintenence?
Is there any precedent for a bridge this size to be removed?
Not just the bridge -- what about the stretches of M48 either side? And you thought the M45 was quiet...
It'll be turned into a 4 lane cycleway, with speed cameras on each downhill side and, AFR, facial recognition cameras.
The toll booths will be non stop energy booths, where they grab a high energy Lucozade, as they sweep past.
For the less energetic, there will be tea rooms and tables along the central reservation of the M48, with all the barriers removed.
Drivers using the Severn Bridge will face disruption early next month when restoration work to protect the massive suspension cables from rusting enters a new phase.
Engineers will be working at weekends to shroud the worst-affected areas of the cables with a special coating, which will allow dry air to be pumped through the cables and prevent the build up of rust.
The work will cost about £2 million and is part of a £27m operation which will eventually cover the entire length of the two huge support cables of the 41-year-old bridge, which carries the M48 motorway.
It will not be closed completely to traffic while the weekend work is in progress but will be shut in one direction at a time to east or westbound traffic, to enable work on the cables to be carried out separately.
The first closure order is likely in early June, between 9.30pm on Fridays and 6am on Mondays.
Robin Miller, of the Highways Agency, said: "These measures will be in the interests of road safety to enable contractors to carry out main cable dehumidification and acoustic monitoring of the installations works."
The Highways Agency said it hoped to complete the engineering works during June and July, and anticipated imposing the weekend closures on about eight occasions.
As a further precaution HGV lorries weighing more than 7.5 tonnes have already been restricted to the first lane only since the beginning of April.
As well as the shrouding of the cables, engineers are also installing a £1m acoustic system which will allow them to monitor the snapping sound of any of the 8,322 individual strands of wire which make up the huge support cables.
The bridge currently carries about 17,000 cars and lorries a day, compared to the Second Severn Crossing which carries 75 per cent of traffic over the River Severn.
Rust was discovered in the support cables after an earlier inspection of the Forth Bridge in Scotland revealed corrosion had taken a hold in the support cables.
I’m sure there must be a nice A-road number which could be assigned to it.
Or what would happen if it was closed to all motor traffic? Would traffic levels on the Seventh Second (sorry, Second Severn) crossing be too high? It could be kept as a scheduled monument or something.
skiddaw05 wrote:Why is the Severn Bridge still a motorway?
I’m sure there must be a nice A-road number which could be assigned to it.
Or what would happen if it was closed to all motor traffic? Would traffic levels on the Seventh Second (sorry, Second Severn) crossing be too high? It could be kept as a scheduled monument or something.
The bits either end lead only to motorway, so have to be motorway. I guess the crossing itself between junctions 1 and 2 could be reduced in status, but I'm not sure there'd be any point. Pedestrians, cyclists and horseriders, and IIRC mopeds, can already use the bridge on the parallel cycle path. Learner drivers can get their chaperone to drive one junction. That leaves tractors n stuff -- how many would actually want to cross the Severn there?
If the bridge were permanently closed, it would be because it was unsafe. That means unsafe to anything underneath it, as well as on it, so it would undoubtedly be demolished (as the rail bridge was when it became unsafe after the collision). But the rest of the M48 would remain, along with Aust services. This would be the biggest abandonment of a major piece of transport infrastructure since the Beeching closures on the railways. It would be interesting to see what happened to the motorway. It could be used for filming post-apocalyptic sci-fi series, I suppose...
I'd probably be replaced somehow - perhaps with a S2 viaduct given the current climate. Engineering has come a long way since 1966, so the M48 wouldn't be doomed to die I don't think.
Bryn Terminally cynical, unimpressed, and nearly Middle Age already. She said life was like a motorway; dull, grey, and long.
Bryn666 wrote:I'd probably be replaced somehow - perhaps with a S2 viaduct given the current climate. Engineering has come a long way since 1966, so the M48 wouldn't be doomed to die I don't think.
The problem is that you have to go down a long way below the mud levels to find a solid foundation to build on, which is why the entire Severn span was a suspension bridge. A viaduct is unfortunately just not on.
At the site of the new bridge, the solid rocks are found just above at mean sea level for most of the way. (They are visible at low tide.) This bridge *is* a viaduct for most of its length - only the deep channel in the centre had to be crossed by a suspension span.
. I cannot find any source which confirms this, but I would not be suprised as the cost of repairing the bridge must be massive and with the Second Severn crossing taking most of the traffic the bridge is no longer strictly necessary. However it is such a majestic bridge it would be a shame to lose it.
