STEPS are being taken to ensure that in the event of bad winter weather work will be able to continue on the construction of the new Eastham Bridge.

Measures are being taken to guard against the biggest risk of a delay that would come from high water levels in the River Teme.

It is still hoped that the new bridge will be open by the spring of 2017.

Engineers began work in October and this has so far been progressing according to plan.

Major work including piling has already started on the north side of the bridge.

“Work on the replacement Eastham Bridge is progressing well, with piling on the north side of the bridge,” said Ken Pollock, who represents Tenbury on Worcestershire County Council.

“It should be possible to continue during the bad winter weather, with the caissons protecting the bridge abutments from rising river levels.”

But he thinks that the next major development will not take place until the New Year when the bridge will start to take shape.

“The completion date of spring is still most likely,” he said.

It has been promised that steps will be taken to help people who face the prospects on having to use narrow country lanes as a diversion throughout the winter months in the face of darkness and potential ice and snow.

This will include children having to travel twice a day between Eastham and Lindridge School during January and February that are normally the worst months of the year for bad weather.

Heavy agricultural traffic including tractors also have to use the country routes causing delays on the narrow road.

Ken Pollock says that additional road gritting will take place during the period when the new bridge is being constructed.

“While this work is undertaken, the diversion routes of Rhyse Lane and Orleton Road will be on the primary gritting routes, ensuring that they will be kept clear as much as possible,” Ken Pollock added.

“Naturally, they will be treated after the more major routes and that might could be late in the night, meaning extra care should be taken driving home in the late evening.”

He has said that some people may think that roads have not been treated when in fact they have been.

This is because brine is now added to salt that is put on to the road surfaces by gritting lorries.

A consequence to this is that the salt particles will not be easily visible and the road surface will look damp although it will have been protected against freezing.

The new Eastham Bridge will follow the same line as the one that was built in 1793 and dramatically collapsed without warning last May on a quiet spring afternoon.

By keeping the dimensions and line of the bridge the same as the original it has been possible to avoid the need for a new environmental survey that would have imposed a delay on the completion of the project.