The potential £1.6m electrification of the historic Cross Keys Bridge will result in fewer disruptions than work currently planned, a council officer has said.
There will be night time closures of the A17 but they would be ‘minimal’, done at night and ‘one-offs’, John Monk, Lincolnshire County Council’s head of highway design services told a meeting of the authority’s Highways and Transport Committee on Monday.
“We expect we’ll have less disruption by doing it this way,” he said of the River Nene crossing at Sutton Bridge.
“The implementation of the electrification is an easier thing to do and will have less impact on traffic than implementing a parallel hydraulic system.”
The committee unanimously backed the proposed new work on the 1897 built Grade II listed building.
The county council had previously agreed £480,000 of work to repair the Victorian hydraulic system but were advised electrification may bring more benefits in the long term.
“Early discussions with potential specialist suppliers suggest a full electrification option,” Mr Monk said. “Having looked in more detail, though it’s significantly more costly, it would being a lot of additional benefits.
“They’re related to operational, healthy and safety, environmental impact, and possibly most importantly, the impact on the road network in terms of the reliability and resilience of the bridge going forward.”
When asked about long- term savings Mr Monk said: “We expect to save £40,000 a year in terms of maintenance but the biggest saving is the potential reputational and disruption savings which are hypothetical I appreciate.
“If it did have a problem under the hydraulic system causing the closure the diversion route would have a massive impact on the agri-food sector and on our neighbours.
“If the bridge failed where the River Nene was not navigable because we couldn’t open the bridge it would have a significant impact on the economy “
Mr Monk said a team of five operate and maintain the thousand tonne bridge 24/7, 365 days a year and revealed that it had broken down earlier this month.
The electrification work, he told the committee, would unburden some of the load on the Victorian parts that were still in action in the mechanisms.
Coun Rob Gibson told the committee: “I’m fully supportive of this.
“We need to look after this bridge and I’m glad we’re putting some money into it to future proof it.
“Without this bridge we do end up cut off from Norfolk; it’s a long way round.”
