A Town Reunited...
Workington traders are pleased at the robust start on construction of a temporary road bridge to re-join the divided community.
John Bailey from Derwent Books told The Guide: "In the past 10 days they have really got to work with pile driving and laying out the mini roundabout access route ... everyone is delighted to see progress at last. The bridge contractors are obliged to have the bridge finished by the end of May, but they are very confident they can have it ready by April."
The Guide magazine was active in backing the traders' petition campaign demanding swifter action to get a new bridge for the town.
While welcoming the developments, John Bailey pointed out: "if they get the bridge open by April/May it means the work on the ground will have taken 10 weeks, whereas the decision-making before that took 14 weeks! Let's hope for speedier decision-making on the repair of Calva Bridge. That is a listed structure and we all hope that won't slow down decision-making."
The authority charged with reconstruction after the November flood disaster is Cumbria County Council. The council has named Rugby-based engineering firm Morgan Est as the contractor to build the new temporary bridge.
The construction of the bridge will be paid for with up to £4.6 million of funding provided by the Department for Transport, which was also confirmed. Emergency capital highway maintenance funding from the Department for Transport will also pay for one of the two permanent road bridges in the town to be built over the next two years (the other will be paid for through insurance).
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The new temporary bridge will be a two-lane, 350-tonne bridge. The 67-metre long, 12-metre wide Janson bridge can now be shipped from Holland and parts of the UK to be assembled on the site.
The council states that: "It is envisaged that the new bridge will be open to traffic, including HGVs, by May 28. Pedestrians and cyclists will also be able to use the bridge, which is situated around 200 metres east of the former Northside Bridge. The first phase of work is to dig the foundations for the bridge and drive down the steel abutment piles which will house the concrete foundations. An estimated 500 tonnes of concrete will be needed for the project, with a further 900 tonnes of tarmac needed for the bridge surface and approach roads."
Mr Bailey revealed that a public meeting in the town was informed that as soon as the new road bridge is in place the army will be acquiring the Barker's Crossing footbridge and shipping it off to help the military and reconstruction work in distant Afghanistan. He also predicted a swift end to the subsidised rail service as soon as the road bridge is opened.
Meanwhile in Cockermouth the county council is expected to allow the Gote and main Cocker bridges to reopen on March 24. Heavy diggers have started excavating tonnes of gravel dumped by the floods alongside the Memorial Gardens in the town. Cockermouth Chamber of Trade and Town Council are among those pressing for a swift decision to reinstate the footbridge linking one of the main car parks for Cockermouth to the town centre. There has been anger in the community that the highways authority kept the town bridges at Gote and Cocker closed for more than three months even though they had been found to be structurally secure after the floods.
