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Daw End Canal


Midnight

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Anyone any idea why it's going to take five months to replace a bridge span? When I was a kid British Railways replaced a main road stone arch bridge with a complete new concrete job over a bank holiday weekend. I remember being woken up at 6am when they blew up the old bridge. Trains were running by the Tuesday the road was opened shortly after.

 

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices/21497-black-cock-bridge-camden-street-walsall-wood-daw-end-canal

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6 hours ago, Midnight said:

Anyone any idea why it's going to take five months to replace a bridge span?

A ridiculously long time. Pretty sure Black Cock is one of those bridges designed for the deck to be jacked up in case of subsidence.  Surely the new deck will be built off site and just lifting in place. Even if they have remove the old deck and repair the abutments before they can measure accurately fir the new one there should be periods when the navigation can be reopened.

 

2 hours ago, noddyboater said:

Can you still go to the Manor Arms from Longwood and turn? 

Black Cock Bridge is well north of the Manor Arms so shouldn't be a problem.

  • Greenie 1
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3 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

They probably consider it a none important waterway that wont effect may people. They probably sent a man and he didn't see a boat all day.

Probably the case.  It doesn't explain why they've just spent a small fortune dredging the Cannock Extension though!

I know there's a good few moorers up there,  but I'd guess 80% never move.

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The local IWA has been trying to get the closure time reduced. He are some extracts from the correspondences which may throw some light as to why the closure will be so long,

 

Quote

A stoppage notice has been issued for closure of the Daw End Branch Canal to enable reconstruction of Black Cock Bridge at Walsall Wood, and a CRT planning application has been submitted to Walsall MBC (Ref: 21/1826).

 

IWA is concerned that the length of the closure (9 May to 21 October: nearly 6 months) and its timing across the Spring and Summer will have damaging effects on local moorers at Longwood and Norton Canes, planned BCN Explorer and 24 Hour Marathon cruises, the Brownhills Canal Festival, and general boating use of the canal resulting in excessive weed growth with even less use of part of the system which is already underused.

The whole job should be able to be completed within, say, one month and within the normal stoppage period’ for such works.

 

CRT’s answer

A road closure is required for the duration of the works. The Local Highway Authority’s preference is for this to be in the summer during school holidays rather than the winter as the road is quieter – we need their consent.

  • There is a 110KVA electric cable in the bridge deck. Western Power are cutting this (free of charge as part of wayleave) and have done an assessment that indicates that they can just about manage without the power during the summer because the load is lower. If this was done in the winter they have indicated that they would have to put a temporary arrangement in place because the load is higher. I am told they would only agree to a winter closure if fund the design and installation of a significant diversion for this cable.
  • The third party land identified for the site compound is only available until October – without this the project becomes more difficult.
  • The bridge hole is only single boat width so there is no space to install temporary works and keep a single boat passage open.
  • There may be some limited lime mortar required but this isn’t driving the timing of the closure or the programme, it’s a relatively minor part of the works.
  • I am told that – conscious of the weed build-up – we will be operating our work boat periodically either side of the stoppage to help reduce its build-up (tho not sure how much difference that will make). 

 

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There is also protracted correspondence about CRT insisting that Lime Mortar needs to be used in order to fulfil the heritage criteria, and unlike normal mortar this can take 6 months to dry/cure. IWA have proved that this is unnecessary because lime mortar was only used when the bridge was first built, and for extensive modifications later in it's life standard only mortar was used so therefore no need to use lime mortar.

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4 minutes ago, Grassman said:

The local IWA has been trying to get the closure time reduced. He are some extracts from the correspondences which may throw some light as to why the closure will be so long,

 

 

That explains why the work is being done in the summer, but not why it is taking so long. A shorter summer stoppage should surely be possible.

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And a portion of the stoppage before and after the school summer holidays so not great reasons for the lengthy stoppage.  If it was just the six weeks school summer holiday then maybe acceptable.

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On 03/05/2022 at 08:35, David Mack said:

That explains why the work is being done in the summer, but not why it is taking so long. A shorter summer stoppage should surely be possible.

The IWA have been arguing that it could be completed in 6 weeks but CRT won't budge on the matter. This has been going on since CRT made the initial announcement months ago, and even the involvement of Richard Parry didn't change things.

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On 09/05/2022 at 08:08, Grassman said:

The IWA have been arguing that it could be completed in 6 weeks but CRT won't budge on the matter. This has been going on since CRT made the initial announcement months ago, and even the involvement of Richard Parry didn't change things.

Well I think CRT are taking us boaters for mugs.

CRT told me it wasn't them but the Highway Authority that demanded the long closure.

This indeed is a bridge designed for the deck height to be raised in the case of subsidence. The new deck could easily be made off site, brought to the job and installed.

And as for lime mortar taking six months to harden....!

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I don't know whether this should be an additional stoppage notification but I've tagged it onto the Daw End closure because I've just had an e-mail from CRT stating that they've shut the Tame Valley Canal from it's junction with Daw End/Rushall down to the M6 viaduct (which according to my mapping is about 5.25miles of canal) this is supposedly for 'safety concerns' anyone any idea what's going on?

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I've had the same email. The closure affects not only the Tame Valley, but also the Birmingham and Fazeley for a distance east of Salford Bridge, and that is going to inconvenience a lot of boaters if the stoppage goes on for any time.

 

The notice says it is for inspection, but clearly its not something planned. So either they are looking for a body in the canal, or some issue has suddenly come up on the M6 viaducts and they need to check several lengths to see if they are affected.

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