Market traders in Hull say 'excessive' weekend bridge closures are killing off trade

Myton Bridge, which carries traffic over the River Hull on A63 Castle Street, has already shut for three weekends, from Friday night to Monday morning. It is closed this weekend and two more.

National Highways says it is the minimum time needed to allow for the replacement of bearings, a complex part of a major programme of maintenance.

However traders in Trinity Market say the closure of the vital artery through the centre of the city, has created major congestion and customers are choosing to stay home.

Butcher Jamie McManus said Saturdays were normally his busiest days, but his takings are down by over a half on average.

He said: "A Saturday is like a Sunday. It's deserted. I’m even getting customers telling me they won't be coming back till they've finished.

"I reckon I’ll lose £10,000 altogether."

Mr McManus said it was taking him an hour and a quarter to get to work from his home in Orchard Park in the morning: "Because there's only that one main road it's having a massive knock on effect. Everybody is trying to find other ways to get round the city."

He said he'd like to have seen Hull Council and National Highways do more to help - possibly by allowing traffic onto bus lanes during the work.

Jo Martin, who runs popular coffee stall Caffeinated, was worried that work could drag on beyond the end of July. "I think six (closures) on the trot is excessive," he said.

"It's the cumulative effect - people attempting to come in and knowing it's a nightmare. Each week seems to be slightly progressively worse."

Meanwhile Paul Gray, who owns street food stall Falafia said his takings were also down by half. "It is worrying," he said.

"I could run it on my own, but I couldn't do that to my staff."

And Angela Dinsdale, owner of Hull’s famous Joke Shop, in adjacent Hepworth Arcade, jested that she was “bringing her knitting in” adding: “It’s spot the customer. How many more knockbacks can Hull take?”

However National Highways project manager Elvis Agbodo said consulting affected councils and traffic modelling studies suggested weekends, when traffic flows were lightest, would be the least disruptive.

Mr Agbodo said: “This is an extensive programme of refurbishment on a moving structure, and the only way we can carry this out safely is by closing the bridge to all traffic while the work is carried out.

"We’ve done our best to reduce disruption as far as we practically can but, due to the complex nature of the works, unfortunately, some level of disruption is unavoidable.”

Running the Myton Bridge repairs alongside the ongoing £355m A63 upgrade meant they could reduce the amount of disruption further down the line.

He said: “We appreciate there is short term disruption, for which we sincerely apologise. However, we believe there will be far less longer-term disruption as a result.”