Engineers say they think they can stop Whitby's swing bridge from becoming stuck by changing the colour of the road surface.
Engineers say they think the problem's over the summer with the bridge becoming stuck were due to heat expansion, and they say laying a different colour road service might be the solution.
County Council Bridge manager Phil Richardson says it will involve resurfacing work.
The Swing Bridge was built in 1909 mechanised in 1983. The county council says that failures of the bridge operation have been reduced from twenty plus per year to approximately four per year since 2012. They say it is likely that some of the recent closures have involved extremely high temperatures which prevented the bridge opening
The bridge became jammed several times over the summer months.
Phil Richardson says they think the bridge was expanding in the summer heat and that changing the colour of the road will cool it down.
In a report to councillors last week Phil explained the reasons behind one of the closures in July.
"In July the Bridge Manager attended a breakdown which was due to the failure of a limit switch on the East leaf of the bridge which indicated falsely that the leaf was closed and when the West leaf was closed it jammed at the centre of the bridge which left an open gap.
After consulting the contractor, Fairfield we unjammed the bridge and manually closed the East leaf and that allowed the West leaf to close then the engineer arrived on site and replaced the faulty limit switch and bridge was tested and put back into use. The bridge was operational and checked within an hour of the arrival of the engineer.
There was unfortunately disruption for the users for three hours while we unblocked the bridge leafs which had jammed. Fairfield’s are
currently looking into additional measures to ensure there is a secondary sensor or another way to ensure the bridge cannot be operated in this circumstance. There are numerous options and they are being evaluated before being implemented.Failures of this type cannot be predicted as the limit switches are checked during the services which are carried out twice a year. The electronic sensors that we have introduced on the bridge can be remotely checked and if they are not operating correctly they can be swapped easily for a new one. "
Bridlington Woman Fined For Fly-Tipping
Scarborough Sea Life Centre Celebrates 35th Anniversary With Focus On Marine Conservation
Scarborough Athletic Prepare For Crucial Play-Off Clash At Darlington
Whitby Town Joint Manager Calls For Home Support Ahead Of FC United Of Manchester Clash
Filey Library Appeals For Volunteers To Support Expanding IT Help Service
Antisocial Behaviour Rises On The Yorkshire Coast Despite County-Wide Fall
Scarborough Faces Delays In Appointing Community Anchor Organisation
Scarborough Athletic Announce New Home Shirt Sponsor For 2026/27 Season
Brid Town Second Half Show Seals Comeback Win
Scarborough Commuters Face Wait Until 2028 For Extra Trains As Half-Hourly Service Remains Unfulfilled
Councillors Express Frustration Over Scarborough South Bay Water Quality
North Yorkshire Council Plans £750,000 Investment For Scarborough Town Centre Regeneration
Comments
Add a comment