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Hard Hat Required Under Bridge


cheshire~rose

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I ought to add this is not my photo, it has been widely shared on local groups on Facebook but I can only find a reference to it being taken by "Colin" if I do get a full name I will be back to credit him.

The photo did make me think - I know many tunnels have drips that have been dripping for decades but it is not often you get bridges that drip so much. I feel the ice must be bad for the structure of the bridge but what is the answer? Would it be down to the top dressing of the lane that goes over it? Many canals have bridges that carry simply made farmers tracks without tarmac surfaces and they don't seem to drip that much so is this likely to be simply down to the specific construction type of this bridge or is a lack of maintenance going to be a culprit? 

 

 

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Thanks for sharing Jan.

If you look under motorway bridges you can often see the drainage pipes from the gullies on the road above.  They look like normal household plastic pipes for either rain or 'black' water.  In Broadland a number of the flat-deck bridges have drain tubes through the deck and discharging into the river.  Wayford Bridge has a number of small drains which could give a nasty graze if you were not careful.

Dogkennel Bridge is the lowest point of the road in that area, downhill from Pennyfields in the south and slightly below the level crossing to the North, so quite a bit of a sump to clear.  You csn hear them years ago, 'just turn it into the canal, it's been abandoned for years'...

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Yes, ice is bad for structures if it gets into the fabric. Ice has a larger volume than the water it came from so it tends to push things apart as it expands. In the pic it is not clear where the water came from.  If it came through the structure of the bridge that would be bad news. If it just ran down the face that would be less bad, and possibly harmless if the masonry is properly pointed (oink oink, flap,flap).

N

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1 hour ago, tree monkey said:

Am I the only one who would rather enjoy going through this in a boat?

no you're not the only one

although I'd remove my tv aerial first as that is the highest / most forward part of my cabin

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1 hour ago, BEngo said:

Yes, ice is bad for structures if it gets into the fabric. Ice has a larger volume than the water it came from so it tends to push things apart as it expands. In the pic it is not clear where the water came from.  If it came through the structure of the bridge that would be bad news. If it just ran down the face that would be less bad, and possibly harmless if the masonry is properly pointed (oink oink, flap,flap).

N

It looks as if that is a curtain of ice set about 12-18 inches in from the face of the brickwork. That is most likely to indicate that the spandrel walls has moved away from the rest of the bridge, taking the first section of the arch barrel with it. The resulting crack between the two parts of the arch has formed a path for water. This is quite a common failure in masonry arch bridges.

 

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4 hours ago, tree monkey said:

Am I the only one who would rather enjoy going through this in a boat?

I would, but not if I were the owner. I'd expect any steel boat to win against those icicles, but not without scraping paintwork and wreaking other damage depending what's at the bow. Do not try this if you have a cratch cover.

Also, given what David Mack wrote about the possible cause, could those icicles act as levers and push the brickwork apart more? From the point of view of the bridge, maybe it's best left to thaw first?

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Yesterday got too busy for me to come back and see the replies so I am sorry if folks thought I was ignoring them.

I need to try and find a photo of the bridge minus it's ice. It has a metal (iron?) framework under the arch. If you look closely you will see a darker part of the arch between the ice and the bricks and this is the first of the of the metal spans of which there are several through the length of it.

Those of you who use Faceache may be abel to watch this short video that was posted elsewhere of it:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/568075206638343/permalink/1604932382952615/

You can see that rather than the ice being a curtain in just one area it appears to have icicles running right through it.

The canl is in a cutting here and from memory the roadway on top of the bridge does not have an especially pronounced hump to it. I would imagine that the snow melthing up the top may not have been able to run away as easily as rain would and so that may have been a cause, although it is very possible that services run though there and maybe a water pipe froze?

 

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