M5 in the Midlands - Structure Maintenance

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DB617
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Location: Bristol

M5 in the Midlands - Structure Maintenance

Post by DB617 »

Unfortunately I couldn't get any pictures as I was at the wheel, but on a trip from Bristol to Birmingham this week I was struck by the number of overbridges on the M5 which have pieces of concrete spalled off to the point of exposing large sections of reinforcement. It honestly looks like they are barely safe, purely from the point of view that falling concrete on a motorway is really, really bad. Is there any current effort anyone is aware of to get them surveyed and fixed?

It's becoming quite worrying how many old concrete structures are falling apart rather rapidly. I've been aware for a while that we probably wouldn't get on top of the rate of decay of our old structures using the current funding and manpower, but I wasn't expecting it to become evident quite so quickly.
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SouthWest Philip
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Re: M5 in the Midlands - Structure Maintenance

Post by SouthWest Philip »

The bridges around Cheltenham and Gloucester especially seem to be akin to 'Trigger's broom' the amount of work that has been done on them over the years.

I can't help think the current works at jnc 11, leading to the closure of the roundabout for over a year, would have been more quickly dealt with by demolishing and rebuilding the bridges than refurbishing.

With regard to the missing chunks of concrete, I think that is intentional in that they have been removed for inspection rather than simply fallen off.
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M4 Cardiff
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Re: M5 in the Midlands - Structure Maintenance

Post by M4 Cardiff »

Or could an inspection have indicated that some bits were looking a bit dodgy and during a night closure the authroities have sent some workers up on a cherry picker to give anything cracked-looking a whack with a hammer to bring loose materials down safely? I have noticed similar on the old Owen Williams M1 bridges and initially thought that some had maybe somehow been whacked by high loads, but structural inspection and removal of loose material by engineers makes more sense.
Driving thrombosis caused this accident......a clot behind the wheel.
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