Humber Bridge to close overnight for vital maintenance work
By Rick Lyon
The Humber Bridge is to close to all traffic, walkers and cyclists from 9pm on Saturday, September 17, to 9am on Sunday, September 18 to enable vital maintenance work to take place.
The work includes changing two bearings at the Hessle end of the bridge as they have come to the end of their working lives.
The role of the bearings is to connect the bridge deck to the towers, helping to carry the weight of the bridge and traffic, while at the same time allowing the bridge to move in response to the wind and temperature.
It follows a similar and successful operation last year to replace the bearings at the Barton end of the bridge.
Andrew Arundel, Chief Operating Officer at the Humber Bridge, said the work involved lifting up the road deck a small amount to enable the bearings to be replaced, meaning there was no option but to close the bridge entirely whilst the works were being carried out.
There is also a contingency plan in place for any emergency vehicles that have no option but to cross the Humber Bridge while the work is ongoing.
Mr Arundel said: “Replacing the bearings at the Hessle end of the Humber Bridge is a vital maintenance procedure. The bearings were designed to last around 40 years, so have come to the end of their working lives.
“We chose the weekend of September 17 to undertake the work because the forecasted weather conditions are favourable. We are carrying the work over a weekend night to keep disruption to a minimum, because this is typically when traffic levels are lowest.
“When we replaced the bearings at the Barton end of the bridge last year, the operation went very smoothly and we were able to reopen the bridge ahead of the stated time.”
Although the works are forecast to take place on September 17, there is a small chance they will be cancelled should the weather forecast change for the worse.
Bridge users are encouraged to either reschedule non-essential journeys during hours of 9pm on Saturday, September 17 and 9am on Sunday, September 18, or in the case of essential travel, set aside more time to travel via Goole.