New stage reached in the building of the new Eastham Bridge

Worcestershire County Council's project to replace Eastham Bridge, which collapsed in May, has now moved into the next phase with the piling of foundations now underway.

Works have included moving overhead cables, clearance of the site and the creation of temporary cofferdams to allow dry working areas. Heavy duty piling machinery is now on site to drill down and create the bridge foundations on the south side of the River Teme.

This stage of works will last until Christmas and then similar works will commence on the north side of the river. Later in the New Year the steel bridge deck will arrive on site and be lifted into position.

Contractors are also currently cleaning some of the stonework that was recovered from the original bridge and this will be re-used as cladding to the new structure.

"I am pleased that we have now moved into the next phase of this important project designed to re-connect the village of Eastham as early as is possible,” said Marcus Hart, Worcestershire County Council’s cabinet member for highways.

“Works are currently progressing well. We do always have to be conscious of how the winter weather may affect our plans however works are currently on track for spring 2017."

Traffic lights on the A443 will remain in place 24 hours a day until further notice to enable works on the northern section and to facilitate the bridge lift. Additional highways gritting has also been carried out on the roads around Eastham.

It is hoped that the new bridge will be open for the beginning of next summer.

Earlier plans to build a temporary bridge were abandoned when it was discovered that this would require an Environmental Survey.

However, it was found that this would not be necessary if a new bridge was built to the same dimensions and along the same line as the one which collapsed dramatically on a quiet May afternoon.

At the time the bridge was being used by mini buses to ferry children from Lindridge School to Eastham but fortunately there were no vehicles or pedestrians on the bridge when it collapsed.

The original bridge did not have any weight restriction and villagers claim that in the days before it collapsed it was being used by heavy lorries carrying stone.

When Eastham Bridge was built at the end of the 18th century it would not have had to take anything bigger than a heavily laden horse drawn farm waggon.

Brief information of the findings of an initial investigation into the collapse have been released and this puts the blame on the flow of water in the River Teme undermining the 200 year old foundations.

Worcestershire County Council claims that Eastham Bridge had been inspected in December 2015 when no problems had been found.

Villagers from Eastham are concerned about the long diversion along country lanes especially in the winter when it is dark and there is potential for ice and snow.