Deja Vu Bristol Parkway Hatchet Road Bridge

[whole diary]

[johnneyw]

Local BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) radio is reporting a road closure or delays after another bus seems to have hit the bridge at Bristol Parkway. How long was it since the previous one? This year?

[martyjon]

Local BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) radio is reporting a road closure or delays after another bus seems to have hit the bridge at Bristol Parkway. How long was it since the previous one? This year?

Yea, First Bus service 19A Cribbs Causeway to Bath has hit same arch as Applegates DD earlier this year. Bridge should be replaced but you know LA's, won't do anything until fatalities occur and there's no guarantee they will in those eventualities although Network Rail has a part to play in this particular case. Knowing the location well and to my non-professional eye an easy solution, lower the road surface by one foot, a job that could be done in a long weekend with 24 hour working but knowing how LA's work, start - stop working taking 12 months.

[eightonedee]

...or longer if the Cow Lane Bridge saga in Reading is anything to go by!

[froome]

Local BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) radio is reporting a road closure or delays after another bus seems to have hit the bridge at Bristol Parkway. How long was it since the previous one? This year?

Yea, First Bus service 19A Cribbs Causeway to Bath has hit same arch as Applegates DD earlier this year. Bridge should be replaced but you know LA's, won't do anything until fatalities occur and there's no guarantee they will in those eventualities although Network Rail has a part to play in this particular case. Knowing the location well and to my non-professional eye an easy solution, lower the road surface by one foot, a job that could be done in a long weekend with 24 hour working but knowing how LA's work, start - stop working taking 12 months.

I doubt whether a long weekend is anywhere near realistic for that sort of job. There will be numerous public utilities that need to be moved, some over long distances, which would need to be done separately. There will also be the issue of drainage from the site. A lower road surface may create a low spot which require extensive drainage works to alleviate it.

As a teenager I lived on a main road which was later lowered under a railway bridge, probably for similar reasons as this. At the next heavy rainfall the whole road flooded to a depth which meant it was then closed to use for some time.

[Red Squirrel]

This bridge is deceptive because it has two elements - a plate girder bridge over which three track pass, and a stone arch which, as far as I can tell, is redundant. The stone arch requires tall vehicles to pass in the middle of the road, whereas the plate girder bridge allows full headroom across its entire width. For vehicles passing under from the north, it is hard to see the arch in the gloom.

Is there an argument for demolishing the arched bridge? That probably could be done in a weekend!

[Phantom]

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/live-first-bus-crash-parkway-3305004

[Witham Bobby]

Very fertile railway gardens in the vicinity of the bridge.

The overhanging branches must affect visibility through the bridge, I'd suggest

All part of the way the railways are looked after these days.

[johnneyw]

This bridge is deceptive because it has two elements - a plate girder bridge over which three track pass, and a stone arch which, as far as I can tell, is redundant. The stone arch requires tall vehicles to pass in the middle of the road, whereas the plate girder bridge allows full headroom across its entire width. For vehicles passing under from the north, it is hard to see the arch in the gloom.

Is there an argument for demolishing the arched bridge? That probably could be done in a weekend!

There's the opportunity cost to consider. Is it possible, likely even, that an extra track will need to be laid there some time in the reasonably near future to deal with an increase in traffic?

[Bmblbzzz]

It might be simpler/cheaper/quicker to install a 'false arch' to the girder bridge. This would at least make it clear to drivers of high vehicles that they need to avoid the left-hand side (looking from the north) of the road.

[stuving]

It might be simpler/cheaper/quicker to install a 'false arch' to the girder bridge. This would at least make it clear to drivers of high vehicles that they need to avoid the left-hand side (looking from the north) of the road.

The previous time this happened - dealt with here in the forum - the driver correctly pulled out before going under the northern (steel) bridge, but pulled back into the left before reaching the southern (arch) bridge (there's a video). That was partly because northbound cars had stopped under the bridge, and mostly a failure to think about why the signs said to pull out when the first brige wasn't arched.

Oh, and there is no need to wait for a track to be laid on that southern bridge - it's already there; the extra track that allows trains to sneak in and out of P4 without special permission.

[Red Squirrel]

Oh, and there is no need to wait for a track to be laid on that southern bridge - it's already there; the extra track that allows trains to sneak in and out of P4 without special permission.

Ah, that's the trouble with doing a desk-based analysis; the satellite views I checked must be out-of-date..!