Temple Quarter, Bristol

[whole diary]

[ellendune]

Protracted delays with the lorries insurers?

Exactly that, I understand.

Yes I remember that problem when I worked for a county council it took months to get them to agree and then it was only a few weeks before another lorry hit it and we had to do it all over again. Fortunately the second time we managed to get the money to raise it a little bit and I don't think anyone has hit it since.

[Red Squirrel]

Protracted delays with the lorries insurers?

Exactly that, I understand.

Yes I remember that problem when I worked for a county council it took months to get them to agree and then it was only a few weeks before another lorry hit it and we had to do it all over again. Fortunately the second time we managed to get the money to raise it a little bit and I don't think anyone has hit it since.

Just to be clear, in this instance someone drove a lorry over a pedestrian/cycle bridge and wrecked the deck. I suspect that the bridge will be better-protected now!

[initiation]

Protracted delays with the lorries insurers?

Exactly that, I understand.

Yes I remember that problem when I worked for a county council it took months to get them to agree and then it was only a few weeks before another lorry hit it and we had to do it all over again. Fortunately the second time we managed to get the money to raise it a little bit and I don't think anyone has hit it since.

Just to be clear, in this instance someone drove a lorry over a pedestrian/cycle bridge and wrecked the deck. I suspect that the bridge will be better-protected now!

It definitely is, new bollards have been put in place at each end (and on the ends of the neighbouring bridge). It also lasted many years before it happened the first time so not exactly a common occurrence.

The length of time it has taken to fix has been amazing. Even this week they only had one, or perhaps two pole working on it at any one time. At least it should stop the continuous arguments between cyclists and pedestrians.

Interestingly the diversion costs me around 3 minutes per day, over 18 months that has added up to 16.5 hours going the extra distance to the next door bridge. And peope wonder why productivity is lower in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)...

[Red Squirrel]

.
The length of time it has taken to fix has been amazing. Even this week they only had one, or perhaps two pole [people? Ed] working on it at any one time.

The delay was due to the protracted nature of the insurance claim.

Meanwhile, the foot/cycle path alongside the River Avon from Victor Street (by the railway bridge) to Cattle Market Road was due to reopen on the 17th May, now that work on the new footbridge to Temple Island is complete. The new bridge won't be open for a while; it was built, as I understand it, to allow coach parties to get to an arena that was going to be built around there somewhere after they'd been dropped off on Albert Road. Presumably it'll find an alternative use!

See here for more details: https://www.bristoltemplequarter.com/key-projects/infrastructure-st-philips-footbridge/

I would go down and take some pix, but I've done my back in...

[johnneyw]

I would go down and take some pix, but I've done my back in...

Ouch! Speedy recovery RS.

[Western Pathfinder]

My sympathys to you RS.

[Red Squirrel]

Thanks - it's not as bad as all that; just makes me reluctant to get on my pushbike for fear of making it worse!

[Bmblbzzz]

You need a new bike! Something like this:


Then again, maybe you don't...
GWS

[Bmblbzzz]

Protracted delays with the lorries insurers?

Exactly that, I understand.

Yes I remember that problem when I worked for a county council it took months to get them to agree and then it was only a few weeks before another lorry hit it and we had to do it all over again. Fortunately the second time we managed to get the money to raise it a little bit and I don't think anyone has hit it since.

Just to be clear, in this instance someone drove a lorry over a pedestrian/cycle bridge and wrecked the deck. I suspect that the bridge will be better-protected now!

It definitely is, new bollards have been put in place at each end (and on the ends of the neighbouring bridge). It also lasted many years before it happened the first time so not exactly a common occurrence.

Is the neighbouring bridge you mention the snakey one that makes a rattling sound when anyone cycles, or even pulls a wheelie case, over it? (I think it's officially called the Valentine Bridge but no one seems to use that name in practice.)

[initiation]

Protracted delays with the lorries insurers?

Exactly that, I understand.

Yes I remember that problem when I worked for a county council it took months to get them to agree and then it was only a few weeks before another lorry hit it and we had to do it all over again. Fortunately the second time we managed to get the money to raise it a little bit and I don't think anyone has hit it since.

Just to be clear, in this instance someone drove a lorry over a pedestrian/cycle bridge and wrecked the deck. I suspect that the bridge will be better-protected now!

It definitely is, new bollards have been put in place at each end (and on the ends of the neighbouring bridge). It also lasted many years before it happened the first time so not exactly a common occurrence.

Is the neighbouring bridge you mention the snakey one that makes a rattling sound when anyone cycles, or even pulls a wheelie case, over it? (I think it's officially called the Valentine Bridge but no one seems to use that name in practice.)

Yes, that is the one. I also find the surface very easy to trip on.

I witnessed one lunchtime a fire drill for the Burgess Salmon building (yellow one). It looked like the assembly point was the other side of the bridge. I hope the bridge was designed well as it was completely rammed with the hundreds of people from that office trying to get through the single file cycle barriers on the other side. The poor people coming the other way stood no chance.

[Red Squirrel]

BRISTOL’S SECOND BRIDGE TO NOWHERE OPENS



It was meant to connect St Philip’s with Arena Island. But a new bridge over the River Avon now leads to precisely nowhere, with views of a still empty patch of land from inside a small metal cage.

In architects’ plans, St Philip’s Footbridge was gleaming in the sunshine as it carried music fans to the proposed arena.

As a new piece of infrastructure, it’s impressive; a Y-shaped build including steps and a long ramp to enable bicycles, buggies and wheelchair to join the bridge, which offers marvellous new views across to Totterdown.

Yet it’s a form of cruel and unusual punishment to be initially planned to serve an arena which will probably never be built here; instead offering the closest view yet to what might have been.

Full article at Bristol 247, including more photos: https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/bristols-second-bridge-to-nowhere-opens/

[Phantom]

So that was where it went !
It was being built on the land for months and then suddenly disappeared one weekend !

[Red Squirrel]

Some nice drone shots in this video by UoB: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFk5pxrUmZc

...which was embedded in this clickbaity-sounding article in the Bristol Post:

Why Bristol’s city centre is set to 'move east'

“There is real momentum behind what amounts to an eastward shift"



Bristol’s centre of gravity is set to move in the next few years as developers invest hundreds of millions of pounds in the east of the city.

A host of schemes will transform areas including Old Market and St. Philip’s, shifting the city’s centre point, according to real estate experts.

Global commercial property company Colliers International says the University of Bristol’s acquisition of the Royal Mail sorting office near Temple Meads will be the catalyst for this radical change.

The demolition of the building will make way for the university’s £300million Temple Quarter Campus, which is due to open by 2021.

This has unlocked areas of redevelopment to the east of Bristol’s existing city centre beyond the railway line, which has always acted as a natural barrier for further development.

Tom Watkins, associate director in the industrial and logistics team at Colliers International in Bristol, said:  “The amount of redevelopment which has gone on in this area in the past 18 months or so is amazing.

“There is real momentum behind what amounts to an eastward shift of the city centre.”

Source, and full article: https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/business/bristols-city-centre-set-move-2903617

[Bmblbzzz]

I'd never heard of the colourworks before. Sounds hip now, like the Paintworks.

[Red Squirrel]

I'd never heard of the colourworks before. Sounds hip now, like the Paintworks.

Does have rather a modish ring, doesn't it? I had assumed the works must have been obliterated when BRD (or '82A' as you youngsters will probably refer to it) was built, but they clearly survived - at least, initially:


Image source: Bristol Rail Archive

From more recent old maps it looks like the works to the east of the B&E^‡(resolve) main line, which were accessed via a bridge under the railway, were cut off (and in part demolished) when Temple Meads Station was expanded in the 1930's.