Bridge inspectors will begin a ‘principal inspection’ of a key bridge into South Bristol tonight, bringing roadworks every night this week.
The city council has announced it will close one lane all the way around the Bedminster Bridge roundabout each night this week, to enable a check on the structure of the bridge.
That will mean one lane on the two-bridge roundabout will be closed from 8pm tonight, Monday, September 30, to 6am tomorrow morning, Tuesday, October 1 – and the same thing will happen again with an 8pm to 6am lane closure all the way to Friday night and Saturday morning.
“Both bridges on the roundabout will remain open but there may be some delays,” a council spokesperson said.
“Works to be undertaken will be principal inspection, post tension site inspection, asbestos survey, waterproofing and joint inspection.”
The council has radical plans for traffic flow on the bridge. Bristol Live revealed last month that the proposal is to effectively stop it being a roundabout and instead have the eastern bridge for two-way traffic and the western bridge for buses and cycle lanes, creating two traffic-light controlled crossroads for drivers on either side of the eastern bridge.
The principal inspection being carried out this week is being carried ahead of another big inspection of the busiest of all the river crossings in Bristol – Brunel Way, which crosses Avon Bridge and Plimsoll Bridge over the River Avon and the Cumberland Basin between Ashton Gate and Hotwells.
Avon Bridge will be partially closed overnight for six nights in October – from Tuesday to Thursday next week southbound, and then from Tuesday to Thursday the following week northbound – find out more details of that closure here.