SILVER JUBILEE BRIDGE UPDATE
Halton Borough Council can confirm that the Silver Jubilee Bridge (SJB), a Grade II Listed Structure and the seventh largest steel arch bridge in the world, is due to reopen to traffic in February 2021 as the major refurbishment programme nears completion.
The majority of the work is now finished, but there is one remaining 12 week project to complete before the bridge can fully reopen to vehicles. Since December 2019 pedestrians and cyclists have been able to use the SJB as they cannot use the Mersey Gateway. This will continue to be the case.
The opening of the Mersey Gateway Bridge in October 2017 provided the first ever opportunity to completely close the Silver Jubilee Bridge for maintenance during its 59 year life, because for the majority of that time it has been the only crossing of the Mersey for miles around.
Listed below is the work already carried out on the SJB during its closure.
- Refurbishment of the entire steel arch, including strengthening numerous bracing members that had extensive corrosion.
- The replacement of a cable hanger that had shown evidence of potential early stage failure.The first time this has ever been undertaken.
- The repainting of the entire arch, removing the old paint system, undertaking steel repairs and applying a new multi-coat system on to the bare steel.
- The entire concrete road deck has been repaired, re-waterproofed and resurfaced.
- Re-configuration of the deck into a single vehicle lane in either direction, together with dedicated cycle lane.This will allow the existing SJB footbridge to be solely for pedestrian use.
- Both bridge approach structures (Widnes and Runcorn) have been refurbished and re-configured with single lane traffic and new, widened cycleway/footway verges.
- Runcorn Approach Viaduct deck has been repaired, re-waterproofing and resurfaced and installed with new carriageway joints.
- Widnes Approach Viaduct has been resurfaced with new carriageway joints.
- The existing Runcorn Approach Viaduct West (connecting into the Trumpet Loop) has been demolished.
The Council has sought to open the SJB as soon as is possible, but any work undertaken on the bridge is complex due to its age, the uniqueness of the structure and the fact it is Grade II Listed. The final piece of work to do before the SJB can open to vehicles is to replace the safety system on the bridge’s edge, known as a parapet.
After demolition of Runcorn Approach Viaduct West (leading to Trumpet Loop), it was discovered that the remaining 75m section of existing parapet fixings, normally hidden from view, were corroded beyond repair. The new system must be fully certified and comply with current design standards. Locations where the new system will be installed need to be cut out of the structure and widened to allow the new fixings to have significant strength and adhere to current standards.
As a critical health and safety matter, the SJB cannot be opened up to vehicles until it is completed. The work will take in the region of 12 weeks. This means that the SJB will not re-open to vehicles until February next year.
The Council would like to apologise for this delay, but given the health and safety issues, there is no alternative but to keep the closure to vehicles in place. To reiterate, the bridge will remain open to pedestrians and cyclists throughout this period.
Customer Consultation 2020
As part of a new Order to deal with the opening of the Silver Jubilee Bridge we are asking for feedback on a customer survey for 3 week period from 23rd Sept to 14th Oct. We are not asking for views on tolling but on the new configuration.
You can access the Survey here and thanks in advance for your time.
Baby born on Mersey Gateway bridge
A baby girl has been born nearly three months premature as her mum crossed the River Mersey.
Baby Opal was born in an ambulance on the Mersey Gateway Bridge, as her parents were en-route to hospital.
They have been reunited with one of the paramedics who delivered her.
Watch the ITV Granada News report here
https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2020-07-30/victoria-grimes-baby-born-on-mersey-gateway-bridge
Bridge crossings back on the rise following Covid-19 impact on Mersey Gateway journey numbers
The latest Mersey Gateway figures show that people are starting to resume normal travel patterns following the Covid-19 lockdown.
The lockdown period saw journey numbers fall to the lowest levels recorded since the bridge opened.
Journey numbers have been steadily increasing every week as lockdown eases, with a daily average of 45,000 journeys recorded in the last week of June.
The figures also show that April was the least busy month recorded for the bridge since it first opened in October 2017.
The detailed figures, which are presented in the quarterly Mersey Gateway dashboard and cover April – June 2020, show:
- Journey numbers are increasing weekly as lockdown ends – by the end of June weekly traffic levels were at around 70% of normal traffic levels
- April was the quietest month across the bridge – but there were still 730,000 journeys made between Runcorn and Widnes
- Over 98% of all crossings were paid for on time – a record high of 98.15% in total, though this is partly due to lower traffic levels and a greater percentage of crossings being made by registered customers
The number of PCNs and income from PCNs also dropped significantly. PCNs were still issued during lockdown when people did not pay, but most enforcement activity was paused.
Neil Conway, Chief Executive of merseyflow, said: “We are pleased to see journey numbers on the rise after lockdown and the highest number of crossings paid for on time. However, we do recognise that this will be due to the fact that most journeys were made by registered customers during April and May, when only essential travel was advised.”
The merseyflow quick pay app, which is available for Apple and Android devices, has been downloaded over 39,000 times since it was launched in November. An average of 550 – 650 crossing payments are made using the app every day, with June seeing the highest number of payments being made via the app (over 16,000 in total).
In the next few weeks, the app will be updated to take on board customer feedback. This includes the option for customers to save their payment details for even quicker transactions and to make the use of the Quick Pay App even more convenient.
Neil added: “It’s great to see so many people downloading and using the app as lockdown eases. I recommend that anyone who is paying for individual crossings downloads and uses the merseyflow quick pay app as it is the quickest and easiest way to pay for individual journeys.”
Mike Bennett, Managing Director of the Mersey Gateway Crossings Board, said: “It’s unsurprising that April showed the lowest number of traffic levels recorded, however I am glad to see the numbers slowly but surely increasing on a week by week basis. I think these figures reflect the relaxing of lockdown, and we expect the traffic levels to continue rising throughout the summer.”
He added: “It’s always worth reminding people that anyone who uses the bridge regularly can register with merseyflow and save up to 10% on each journey you make.”
The quarterly merseyflow dashboard provides a range of in-depth statistics and graphs which show information on the number of crossings made, average daily traffic, number of PCNs issued, payments made on time, total revenue and what percentage of this comes from PCNs.
The Dashboard can be viewed here
MGCB Service Update
The week ending 17 May was the busiest for
traffic across the Mersey Gateway Bridge since the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown
began back in March. An extra 45,000 vehicles crossed the bridge compared to
the previous week.
New data shows that the traffic level at the
height of the lockdown was less than a third of the typical pre-lockdown number
of vehicles flowing across the bridge between Runcorn and Widnes.
However, whilst the past week has been the
busiest since 16 March, overall traffic is still at less than half of
pre-lockdown levels.
Traffic has dropped across all vehicle
classes, though the new figures shared by bridge operator merseyflow do show
how traffic patterns have varied across different vehicle types over the past
two months.
- The quietest week was week commencing 6th
April when just 154,000 vehicles crossed the Mersey, compared to a typical
pre-lockdown average of almost 500,000 journeys. - Class 4 vehicles – HGVs and other large
vehicles – went from around 7% of daily traffic up to 13% of daily traffic at
the height of the lockdown, before reducing back to their current figure of 10%. - Halton residents, Blue Badge holders and
registered customers have all significantly reduced travel as a result of the
lockdown. - Motorcyclists have taken advantage of the
lockdown easing and better weather, with the past week showing the highest
number of motorcyclists crossing the bridge in a single week for several months - The number of PCNs issued reduced
significantly and payment on time rates remained high at almost 98% during
April and May. - A growing percentage of people paying for
their journeys using the merseyflow quick pay app, which has now been downloaded
over 26,000 times since it was launched last November.
A number of new features for the app are now
being tested and will be ready for roll-out within the next few weeks.
Tolls/charges remain in force on the bridge,
despite a number of urgent requests from Halton Borough Council, which have
been supported by merseyflow, to the UK Government to temporarily waive
tolls/charges during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The UK Government has not agreed to this
request as it has maintained its stance that continuation of tolling/charging
on crossings is a matter that has to be considered in a national context.
Neil Conway, Chief Executive of merseyflow,
said: “These figures show just how much people across the north west have
reduced their travel during the lockdown. They will also act as a guide to how
much things are slowly getting ‘back to normal’ in terms of behaviour patterns
as the lockdown gradually eases. We’ve just finished the first week of things
being more relaxed, but it is clear that less people are staying at home as
there was an extra 45,000 journeys made last week.”
Mike Bennett, Managing Director of the Mersey
Gateway Crossings Board, said: “I think these figures show how responsible
people have been over the past two months in minimising non-essential journeys.
It also shows how the changing message from Government since 11th
May has certainly had an impact on traffic activity levels here in the north
west.”