Bridge repair vital despite traffic light delays

Repair works to a bridge that are causing traffic problems must be carried out now otherwise "there won't be a bridge", a councillor has said.

Temporary traffic lights at Ferry Bridge in Portland, Dorset, have caused major tailbacks for people coming on and off the peninsula.

Dorset Council said, after initial tailbacks, it had changed the phasing of the lights and spotters were in place from 07:00 to 19:00 GMT to react to any problems.

Place services councillor Jon Andrew said engineers could only work in daylight hours but carrying out the work in the summer was not an option because of the increased number of vehicles in the holiday season.

Ferry Bridge, which carries the A354 between Portland and Weymouth, is partially closed until 1 March for structural repairs after cracks appeared in the concrete.

One lane remains open, controlled by two-way traffic lights.

Mr Andrews said: "If we don't do it now, there is every suggestion that maybe in 18 months time there won't be a bridge - that'll be a big problem.

"I appreciate the issues on the first day and the congestion they caused. We addressed those, changing the timings because, naturally, in the mornings a lot of people are trying to get off the island, and in the evening it's going back the other way.

"We do man the lights from 7am to 7pm and we adjust the timings to suit the route, and we have spotters now, but they couldn't see the end of the queues on the first day because they were that long."

Work was paused during stormy weather on 23 January and the lights were temporarily removed but Andrews said this would not happen again until work was complete.

"We've got some holes under the bridge, the concrete has fallen off, so we need to take all that concrete off.

"We were at a stage last week when we weren't too far with that concrete removal so it was OK to do it [remove the lights] but from this week onwards, I don't believe we will be able to do that because it will weaken the bridge and we will only be able to use one-way traffic."

More than 18,000 vehicles cross the causeway each day.

Andrews said the council had wanted to start work in November but had to wait for a Marine Management Organisation licence to work in the water.

He said: "What people don't realise is, they don't see anybody working on the bridge because they are all underneath it."