[C]umbria County Council has been working hard over the last year to stabilise Brougham Old Bridge from further degradation and total collapse.
The English Heritage listed bridge is over 200 years old and provides picturesque access to Brougham Castle, a popular tourist attraction near Penrith.
As part of the council’s £120m Infrastructure Recovery Programme, we will be spending approximately £750,000 on this historic structure, repairing it back to its former glory with modern engineering improvements.
Due to the fragility of the bridge, meticulous engineering and planning of the stabilisation works was required to minimise risk of serious injury.
Cumbria County Council confirmed that the stabilisation works have been successfully completed and the final stage of repair works will commence from Tuesday 1 August 2017. The final repairs will involve using salvaged materials from the original structure, and where this is not possible un-weathered stone of the same type used in the original bridge shall be used to cover the modern sub-structure. This will provide greater resilience and engineering stability in the event of a future disaster.
Brougham Old Bridge demonstrates the county council’s commitment to ensure that the fabric of Cumbria’s landscape is retained, and that we use the unfortunate events of Storm Desmond to maximise the safeguarding of the bridge for another 200 years.
Councillor Keith Little, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, said: “I am delighted that the final stage of repair and reinstatement works is set to commence this week. Brougham Old Bridge was completely devastated during Storm Desmond, and I am grateful to the local community for their patience and understanding during the last 18 months. Teams have been working hard to repair or replace over 300 bridges across Cumbria since the floods, they deserve credit for the ongoing work they are doing- there’s still plenty to do.”
Brougham Old Bridge is expected to re-open before the end of November 2017.
