Works are currently progressing well, although the wind and rain over the last week couple of weeks did hamper contractor efforts at erecting the scaffolding needed to provide access to repair the concrete soffits of the outer carriageway cantilevers. You will see up to four scaffolds that reach out over the edge of the bridge. Weights, or kentledge, in the form of precast concrete blocks located on the carriageway, support a cantilever structural arrangement of scaffold tubes to allow us to access the underside of the deck, without the need for support from the bridge itself.

Today marks the start of our fourth week of works and we remain on programme. All the road surfacing asphalt, over 2000 tonnes, has been removed over the full length of the carriageway (which is 2250 metres long x 7.2m wide). Volker Laser, the main contractor, have also removed over a kilometre of both the lane 2 half battered and lane 1 high containment "L" kerbs for recycling. Wheeled excavators, or "Rubber Ducks", are carrying out this task carefully to avoid damaging the vehicle parapet and 20 tonne lorries are being loaded regularly to keep the bridge clear of kerb debris.

We are starting concrete repairs on 20 March 2024. This involves using high pressure water jets to remove defective concrete. As a result, and for your safety, the works are self contained within work enclosures, protected in all directions. However, as a further precaution, we may ask pedestrians and cyclists to wait for up to ten minutes on the shared path until we can confirm that it is safe for you to pass. The shared central path will remain open at all times, as will the contraflow, but please expect delays if you are a walker or wheeler.

Works have progressed well this week, with over 2000 tonnes of the original 1960's asphalt surfacing removed off site for recycling by sub-contractor E&J Douglas. The large planers took the asphalt layer off to a level above the existing concrete deck surface, so that it wasn't damaged. This is because the concrete surface installed between 1963 and 1966 is not perfectly level and we needed to avoid damage to the structural slab from such large milling machines.

Works commenced on Monday this week when we installed a contraflow on the northbound carriageway. Please do keep your speed down when using the bridge because this reduces marker post strikes, which need to be replaced by the traffic management team. The more posts we need to put back, the greater the disruption to traffic flow. We have installed a 30mph speed limit on the bridge for everyone's safety. If you drive an HGV please take extra care because the carriageway is narrower than you might be used to on the trunk road network.