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Northwich town bridge over the Weaver


raymondh

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https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notice/12693/town-bridge-

 

 
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From Date:
9th April 2018 at 12:30
To Date:
until further notice
Type:
Navigation Restriction
Reason:
Repair
Description:

Due to technical issues we are currently unable to operate Town Bridge until further notice. Therefore an air draught restriction of 7ft 6" will be in place.

 

 

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On 23/04/2018 at 12:25, raymondh said:

I am advised that the swing bridge over the Weaver "town bridge" is out of action for the forseeable future 

Has anyone any information on this ? There is a tall yacht trapped between the two bridges

 

Ray

I've asked the question and been informed that the Trust hopes to have the bridge back in working order by early June if not before.

Regards

David

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The yacht has gone. The upper bridge (Hayhurst) was swung yesterday (on the second attempt after an hour delay) and the yacht has gone back up to the yard (above Hunts lock) to have its mast removed and carried on the boat, they then intend to resume their journey to Liverpool and possibly the isle of Mann.

I have heard differing reports as to the issue with Town bridge. One says that movement/subsidence has caused it to jam, the other is that some of the supporting rollers have failed.

I am concerned as maintenance of these bridges is probably way beyond CaRT resources and they are both essential to Northwich traffic flow, so I fear that at some stage they will be locked in place. They are both listed structures. I am moored right below Hayhurst bridge right now and a lot of emergency vehicles use it every day.

When the bridges were built it has very much in the era of pedestrians and horses, they now carry constant heavy traffic. Two bridges were built so that whilst one was swung the other could be used, but modern town planners created a one way ring road using both bridges so that if either is swung Northwich now grinds to a halt. Its a very long way to the next Weaver crossing.

..............Dave

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14 minutes ago, dmr said:

I am concerned as maintenance of these bridges is probably way beyond CaRT resources

CRT has done big overhauls on the A56 and A49  Weaver swing bridges in the last few years, so it doesn't seem to be beyond them.

I think the Northwich bridges are designed to be jacked up in the case of subsidence. Subsidence being pretty much a fact of life in towns ending in -which.

 

MP.

 

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7 minutes ago, MoominPapa said:

CRT has done big overhauls on the A56 and A49  Weaver swing bridges in the last few years, so it doesn't seem to be beyond them.

I think the Northwich bridges are designed to be jacked up in the case of subsidence. Subsidence being pretty much a fact of life in towns ending in -which.

 

MP.

 

I think these overhauls were funded by the council. The bridge foundations are semi floating (I believe) but the bridge supports have obvious big (huge) threaded supports so that they can be adjusted. I believe that subsidence in Northwich is now just about under control as some sort of "stuff" was injected into the old salt workings.

I hear various rumours, one is that much of the Weaver engineering is put out to a local company (and always has been so they have a huge historic experience) but CaRT have recently given the contract to a new company. Dunno if this is just the locks, or locks and bridges, or if its even true.

I am also told that the Daniel Adamson was planning to base itself on the Weaver this year, and also that a company wanted to re-introduce commercial shipping of salt, so there is a lot of work to be done if these things are going to happen.

We have spent much of the winter on the Weaver, its a fantastic waterway, and due to the breach we are now back here again via the ship canal.

..............Dave

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11 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

I am also told that the Daniel Adamson was planning to base itself on the Weaver this year, and also that a company wanted to re-introduce commercial shipping of salt, so there is a lot of work to be done if these things are going to happen.

 

That would account for these signs in Northwich on the new glass flood wall then

DSCF0630small.jpg

Edited by ditchcrawler
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1 hour ago, dmr said:

I think these overhauls were funded by the council. The bridge foundations are semi floating (I believe) but the bridge supports have obvious big (huge) threaded supports so that they can be adjusted. I believe that subsidence in Northwich is now just about under control as some sort of "stuff" was injected into the old salt workings.

I hear various rumours, one is that much of the Weaver engineering is put out to a local company (and always has been so they have a huge historic experience) but CaRT have recently given the contract to a new company. Dunno if this is just the locks, or locks and bridges, or if its even true.

I am also told that the Daniel Adamson was planning to base itself on the Weaver this year, and also that a company wanted to re-introduce commercial shipping of salt, so there is a lot of work to be done if these things are going to happen.

We have spent much of the winter on the Weaver, its a fantastic waterway, and due to the breach we are now back here again via the ship canal.

..............Dave

I believe the plan is for Daniel Adamson to run up to Anderton hence (in part) the major dredging project from Saltersford costing £850k.

There has been a long standing desire to move salt by coaster from Winsford to various UK locations, and also a more recent plan to move it by barge a shorter distance, but road haulage (much predicated on return loads) precludes it at the moment.

Regards

David

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