REPAIRS costing around £80,000 are being carried out to an old railway bridge that carries a footpath across the Pennine Bridleway.
Extensive work on the brick structure started last month and isn’t due to be completed until March 11.
The bridge stands over the former Saddleworth ‘loop line’ which featured in the December 2021 edition of the Independent: saddind.co.uk/keeping-you-in-the-loop/
It also carries a path, known as FP 243, from Carr Lane, Greenfield over what is now the Bridleway.
Pedestrian access beneath the bridge will be always maintained while access across the bridge will be maintained except for a brief period when resurfacing works take place.
Works involve:
• Grinding out old mortar between the masonry and replacing with new.
• Replacement of missing masonry where necessary.
• Removal of vegetation growing through the structure.
• Repairing of large cracks using masonry stitching where appropriate.
• Removal of graffiti
• Resurfacing of bridge deck
• Repainting of steel parapets.
Councillor Amanda Chadderton, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods said: “This footbridge is popular with residents and visitors to the area. That’s why Oldham Council has committed around £80,000 to the project.“The work we are carrying out are needed and means the bridge will be in a better condition for years to come.
“There will be some disruption while the work takes place but pedestrian access beneath the bridge will be maintained at all times.”
Once again this is important and much needed work, (and possibly also sometimes underappreciated,) work which should now last for at least another generation , generally speaking the foot-paths, bridleways etc throughout Oldham haven’t been seriously maintained since the mid 80s, (Thatcher’s Work Program,) and it’s a testament to how good a job we did back that they’ve lasted this long and are still in such good repair, but nothing last forever and so this is money well spent.
This is undeniably expensive but is nonetheless money well spent; the foot paths and bridleways throughout Oldham and its environs haven’t really been much maintained since Thatcher’s Work Program back in the 80’s and it’s a testament to how well and how thoroughly the work was done back then that they’ve lasted so well for this long, but nothing lasts for ever and the longer these major structural problems, (like this one,) are delayed the more expensive the become to address.
Now done this work should last for at least another generation or even two.
Whist I’m often disappointed and sometimes angered by some of the projects that OMBC so often squander public money on in this instance I’m delighted.
What a complete waste of money! How many people use that bridge on a daily basis!?
That money would have been much better spent on SPECS average speed cameras between The Farrars Arms junction in Grasscroft to Coverhill Rd Grotton to tackle the growing number of idiot motorists who think they’re on a race track!
No one cares about road safety anymore. Well not until there’s another fatal accident and then they roll out the ‘lessons will be learnt’ script!