A bridge too far?
Traffic lights have been in place to make the road single lane due to the accident which is thought to have damaged some of the bridge’s infrastructure.
But those lights have regularly been on the blink, and bizarrely the Welsh Government has confirmed that this is because they don’t have strong enough batteries to last a weekend! There are also delays to work commencing due to a lack of correspondence between concerned agencies.
In an email exchange with local councillor Amanda Jenner, a spokesperson for the Trunk Road Agency said: “It has become apparent that the set up at the moment is struggling to get through weekends.
“When lights go to an all red phase it is because the batteries are running out of power, so the lights go to a safe 'all red' mode. Modern batteries should give up to seven days’ use so clearly something is wrong with the current situation.”
The disputation is being looked at by the Welshpool depot, but unfortunately the bigger picture is not positive for a quick fix.
“As regards progress of the parapet repairs,” said the spokesperson. “I am afraid I don't have a date for you as yet. I have spoken to my Structures colleague, who is looking after the project and he has advised the following:
“In order to undertake the repairs to the bridge there is a need to inspect the underside of the bridge (in addition to the areas visible from the highway) before designing the repairs and then undertaking the repairs.
“These steps, in turn, require agreement and approval from Network Rail and these steps are dictated by the need to continue operating the railway line and ensuring safety at all times.
“On the face of it the inspection, design and repair would appear to be straightforward and if undertaken in isolation that would be reasonable assumption but the need to consider the rail operations and safety does extend the timescales.
“Therefore, at A458 Cefn Bridge there is work in hand agreeing the means of completing an inspection safely and undertaking it within a limited planned closure of the railway (probably at a weekend and probably overnight).”
The spokesperson went on to conceded that the update was “not much comfort”, but it provoked an angry reaction with one reader complaining: “It happened before Xmas so there is no excuse why themselves and network rail have not collaborated to safely inspect the work needed and move forward with design ideas. The fact that it has not even been looked at yet but has been damaged for eight weeks is appalling.”
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