ORWELL BRIDGE UPDATE
Important meeting this morning with National Highways to discuss the recent chaos caused by the closure of the Orwell Bridge. I need to understand more about how this was all allowed to unfold in the way that it did and also to understand more about what steps are being taken to ensure this never happens again.
I was told that this was the first time there has ever been a partial closure of the bridge linked to inspection/maintenance. All other closures historically have been to do with weather and car accidents. I was also told this is the first time the specialist vehicle (platform crane vehicle) carrying out the inspection had suffered a “catastrophic failure”. There are only four of these vehicles in the country.
I understand that breakdowns happen from time to time but the most concerning thing has been the lack of resilience that led to the eastward bound section of the bridge being closed for well over 12 hours. The contractor National Highways use for these vehicles is called “WEMO-tech”. It’s clear to me that there response to the breakdown of the vechicle was unacceptable.
The failure happens at approx 12am (midnight) on 1 December. However it wasn’t until 9am that there was an engineer on the scene. We then had to wait until 6pm for an engineer for adequate specialist knowledge to arrive at the scene. He was then able to fix the issue and at 7 30pm the bridge was fully open. All in all therefore the eastward section of the bridge was closed for 17 and a half hours. Clearly totally unacceptable. However unusual it was for there to be a total breakdown of the vehicle in question and however specialist it was, this response time is beyond a joke.
I also asked why one lane was allowed to be open. They said it would have been safe for regular vehicles but not lorries. National Highways made a decision in conjunction with Suffolk Police that it wouldn’t be possible to separate lorries from regular vehicles. National Highways have said to me that they’re confident there will never be another partial closure of the bridge linked to maintenance again. From now on they’ve said WEMO-tech will have to ensure specialist engineers are actually on site when the inspections on the bridge take place. Meaning the response time if there are any issues will be vastly improved.
Myself and Suffolk Coastal MP Therese Coffey also raised concerns about the diversion route used when there’re closures. I expressed my view that vehicles shouldn’t be diverted down Heath Road and Bixley Road.
A useful meeting. Pleased I know more about what happened on the day but it doesn’t provide a defence for what happened. I still feel a lot of the huge disruption caused could have been minimised far more than it was. However some signs lessons have been learnt and there will be more resilience in future.
Quote from Tom Hunt MP:
“It was a worthwhile meeting. I certainly feel like I know a lot more now about what happened that day and reasons why things unfolded in the way they did.
“I understand that accidents and breakdowns happen from time to time but that doesn’t mean the response to what happened was in anyway acceptable. Overall there was a time lag of over 17 hours between the specialist vehicle breaking down and the issue being resolved. I find it totally unacceptable that it took so long for an engineer with specialist knowledge to be on the scene.
“I was told by National Highways that this is the first time there has ever been a partial closure of the bridge caused by an inspection/maintenance issue. They also told me that from now on there will be a specialist engineer on-site whenever an inspection of the bridge is taking place to avoid a repeat of the chaos that happened on 1 December.
“Ultimately what happened causes great disruption to thousands of my constituents and so many businesses. There wasn’t enough resilience and it’s clear to me that certain steps could have been taken to minimise the disruption that was caused.
“However. I was pleased to hear that there is a clear plan from National Highways to ensure there is no repeat.”