Council bosses say good progress being made on repairs to historic bridge

Council bosses have moved to reassure people work was progressing well behind the scenes on the project to repair 18th century Tadcaster Bridge.
Coun Don MackenzieCoun Don Mackenzie
Coun Don Mackenzie

Two halves of the town of Tadcaster were left divided when its historic bridge collapsed during the Christmas floods and the route is expected to be closed until the start of next year.

A temporary footbridge has already been put in place to allow pedestrians to cross the River Wharfe and reconnect the two sides of the town and North Yorkshire County Council’s attention is now focused on the complex rebuilding of the grade II listed main bridge.

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The most urgent task, completed at the beginning of March, was to protect the bridge’s fourth pier after a huge scour hole was discovered in the river bed, which posed a serious threat to the stability of the fourth pier.

Divers poured in more than 50 tonnes of underwater concrete to protect the pier in order for reconstruction work to be carried out.

The Government has pledged £3m to rebuild the bridge and reconnect the North Yorkshire town.

County Councillor Don Mackenzie, the council’s executive member for highways, said today: “Although residents may have seen little activity in the past couple of months, work is progressing well on putting in place all the measures necessary before the physical repairs can begin.

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“The geo-technical survey that will determine the piling design for the base of the pier is complete and engineers are waiting for the report.

Investigations have been carried out to determine the direction to flow through the centre of the river to establish the reason for the damage, so that we can ensure it will not happen again, and a report is awaited.

“We are also in the process of sourcing stone for the rebuilding of the bridge and are awaiting samples to get approval from Heritage England,” Coun Mackenzie added.