Council hopes to reopen the bridge at Rawcliffe Bridge to cars only by end March

East Riding of Yorkshire Council has issued an update about the bridge across the Dutch River at Rawcliffe Bridge, which has been closed to traffic since October.

The council has been carrying out work to determine what weight of vehicle can safely cross the bridge, and has decided it would be safe to reopen it to cars only, after measures are put in place to enable them to use the bridge in a safe manner.

Principal engineer Mike Ball explained: “There is still the need to carry out work on the bridge, with a view to allowing heavier vehicles to cross safely, and this work is continuing.

“However, in order to allow cars to cross, we need to carry out works to the bridge deck, to repair the areas that were used to access the inner parts of the bridge where we carried out the testing of the steel strands within it. In addition, we will need to install appropriate traffic signals, as the cars will only be allowed to cross in single file, and with a 20 mph speed limit, to minimise the loading on the bridge.  We will also be positioning physical constraints on the bridge, to ensure that vehicles wider than cars do not attempt to travel across the bridge, because to do so would endanger road users, as it would be unsafe.”

Work is now in progress to implement these works, and the council expects this to be completed by the end of March, after which cars will be able once again to cross the bridge.

Mike Ball added : “We would like to thank motorists and road users for their patience during the prolonged closure of the bridge, and we hope that drivers of larger vehicles will understand that the continued restrictions are in place for their safety.”