Further extension of closure of bridge at Rawcliffe Bridge

East Riding of Yorkshire Council has announced that the current temporary closure of the bridge over the Dutch River at Rawcliffe Bridge has had to be further extended.

It had been intended to reopen the road next Monday, 18 December. The road is currently closed for specialist inspection works. The inspection has revealed a number of public safety issues which must be addressed before the road can be reopened.

Principal engineer Mike Ball explained : “The works to date have highlighted that there are defects present in the structure. When these problems were encountered, we carried out additional works to determine their extent, which gave rise to the second four – week closure.

“However, due to the nature of the defects that have since been discovered, it has now become necessary, for reasons of public safety, to determine the safe load capacity that the bridge can carry. This will involve taking account of the results of the testing that has been ongoing over the last few weeks, in the analysis that we will be carrying out. Given the impact on public safety of this situation, we will be undertaking this work on a totally independent basis to ensure that nothing is overlooked. Unfortunately, this extremely detailed type of work is time consuming and it is unlikely that the outcome will be known until the end of January. Until this has been determined, I do not consider it safe for the bridge to be re-opened to traffic.

“We do apologise for the inconvenience that this work is causing but public safety has to be our primary concern.”

Further updates about the bridge will be issued as soon as possible in the New Year.