Repair work soon to start on South Warwickshire bridge damaged in crash

The historic Bidford-on-Avon River Bridge, on the B4085 Honeybourne Road, was damaged on August 10 when a car collided with the inner walls and became wedged, damaging the parapet and cutwater and compromising the structure.

Warwickshire County Council has said a final date for completion of work has been estimated as being the end of November, subject to weather and river levels, in line with the early estimates after the incident.

The bridge is currently closed to vehicle crossings while engineers carry out significant ‘behind the scenes’ work that, while unseen, is essential to the repair process.

The road is currently closed to vehicular crossings while engineers carry out the significant ‘behind the scenes’ work that, while unseen, is essential to the repair process.

The bridge is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and applications for consent to the repair work have been made to Historic England and the Avon Navigation Trust, with the application to ANT still pending.

To accommodate the diverted traffic, temporary traffic lights were put on Binton Bridge in Welford-on-Avon to control traffic making its way from the Evesham Rd.

Remaining ongoing repairs to that bridge, and resurfacing of the road, have been suspended for the duration of the works to repair Bidford Bridge and Honeybourne Road (B4805) can be reopened.

Disruption will also be minimised with additional necessary maintenance to the bridge being carried out at the same time as the forthcoming repair.

However, National Grid is starting works on Barton Road to install a new underground electricity cable associated with the adjacent housing development.

Works will start on September 23 under temporary traffic lights for one week, followed by a two week closure of Barton Road starting 30 September with a fresh diversion route to be put in place.

Cllr Jan Matecki, portfolio holder for transport and planning at Warwickshire County Council, said: “We know that people have been wondering when the work would be carried out and I can assure commuters that there has been a lot of work going on to get repairs done as quickly as possible and reopen the road."