Residents in Splott who live on streets close to Beresford Road / Moorland Road bridge have received a letter from Network Rail about the upcoming engineering work which will mean closure of the bridge and traffic diversions.
Beresford Road bridge at 5pm
According to the information provided in the letter, the bulk of the work is expected to take place between August 2016 and February 2017, but there will be preparatory works beforehand including ground investigatory works and the installation of a temporary services bridge for pedestrians beside the existing structure.
The letter says ‘throughout the duration of the scheme the majority of work will be undertaken day time hours (sic). However at various points in the scheme we will work a number of Saturday night shifts and possibly a small number of week night shifts.”
Residents have taken to online community platform ‘Streetlife’ to share information and concerns about noise, lights and dust created as a result of the works. As the bridge will be closed to traffic for seven months, parking is also a worry as anyone living Moorland Road side of the bridge will have to head west and either take the docks road or Splott Rd before they can access Newport Road or head east. Though Beresford Road, Spring Garden’s Terrace and Spring Garden’s Place mostly comprise of permit parking, residents on Beresford Rd side are still worried that their streets will become clogged with cars as people try and avoid the diversion.
Contractor, Bam Nuttall, has set up a works site on land beside the train track by Horwood Close and has organised a drop-in meeting at the site for residents on Monday 4th April from 3pm to 7pm, where members of their team will be on hand to answer questions – no appointment is necessary.
Anyone with questions or concerns is also encouraged to visit the website at www.networkrail.co.uk or call 03457114141 or email crwales@networkrail.co.uk, though as of the morning of the 29th March 2016, there was no further information available online and the letter sent to residents hadn’t yet been uploaded to the Network Rail system.
Beresford Rd bridge will be raised as part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan to provide the extra headroom needed for the future electrification of the railway, which also includes the raising of Windsor Rd bridge.
Network Rail has been working on replacing Windsor Road bridge since January 2015 but delays due to challenging site conditions and adverse weather has pushed back the opening of the new bridge from Spring to Summer of 2016. If Windsor Rd bridge does open in July, as currently scheduled, at least it will mean that two of the three bridges in Splott aren’t closed at the same time.
Read more about the Windsor Road project here: http://bit.ly/1My1qx8
Banner image © Copyright Nigel Thompson and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence