THE ISSUE
Winterstoke road bridge provides both a road and foot crossing over a mainline railway between Bristol and Taunton near Haywood Village. The road is one of the most critical roads for businesses and residents in Weston.
The bridge was built during World War II and due to its age, it is in poor condition and requires regular repairs to ensure that it is safe for our road users, pedestrians, and passengers on the trains below.
In recent years, the bridge has had a 7.5T weight restriction put in place to prevent larger vehicles from using it. This was done to prolong the life of the bridge. Since then, the condition has gradually worsened, with ongoing repair no longer financially possible. Without replacement, further weight restrictions and full closure would be likely in the next five to 10 years.
The bridge is owned by the Ministry of Defence and they have agreed to finance almost £20m for the replacement for the bridge and are working in partnership with North Somerset Council and Network Rail. The bridge is planned to be replaced at the end of 2025.
Due to the complexity of the bridge and its location this will take just over 12 months to replace and will close that part of Winterstoke road off to traffic whilst this happens.
This means significant traffic is going to end up diverting through Haywood Village potentially causing traffic chaos to residents in the village – and I want to avoid these problems as best as possible.
THE NEWS
CAMPAIGN UPDATE
I’ve regularly been meeting with North Somerset Council to discuss the plans for the replacement of Winterstoke bridge and currently the council has agreed the funding with the Ministry of Defence, undertaken ground works and has appointed a contractor to demolish and build the bridge.
The current timetable is subject to change but the plan is to begin the construction by winter 2025 and finish by sprint 2027– however in a project of this scale there are risks of delays and I’ll keep the community updated.
Over 20,000 vehicles use the bridge on average over 24hrs and these vehicles are going to need to go somewhere. I have outlined to the council my concerns that Haywood Village will be used as a rat run – because the Runway will be the official diversion – and that we have to ensure as minimal impact is caused to residents as possible. I have provided the council with a list of areas that I feel will need consideration to ensure easy access in and out of Haywood Village for Haywood residents, and to mitigate against speeding vehicles. In addition I’ve highlighted concerns about the impact to airport roundabout which makes it difficult for Weston village residents to get out and asked for mitigation here too.
I’ve also outlined my concern about the speeding traffic on the Runway and the need to have speed calming measures.
To ensure pedestrians and cyclists aren’t impacted a temporary footbridge will be built and this will be completed in summer 2025 ahead of the major works to Winterstoke Bridge.
You can see the answers to some of the common questions I receive below:
👷♂️ ADDITIONAL DETAILS ABOUT WINTERSTOKE BRIDGE REPLACEMENT
There were a couple of questions I had from residents about the bridge replacement. Answers below:
1️⃣ How long will the bridge be closed for?
🗣️ It will close end of 2025, until spring 2027, so slightly over 12 months.
2️⃣ Will there be a temporary footbridge?
🗣️ Yes, it will start to be constructed towards the end of the spring. It will also be for bikes but you'd need to push your bike rather than cycle on the temporary footbridge.
3️⃣ Where will the diversion be?
🗣️ Highly likely that the official diversion route will be from Winterstoke Road and via The Runway, A371, and A370 (and also in reverse)
4️⃣ Will there be engagement with residents?
🗣️ There will be public drop in session to ask questions and give feedback at some point in the new year
5️⃣ What's happening with the slow worms?
🗣️ There are slow worms on the construction site and these have been translocated to a nearby site. Currently there's vegetation management going on near the bridge to dissuade them from returning
With a project of this scale that's also over a live railway line there may be changes but I'll keep you informed. For now there's nothing the public need to do - just remember the bridge will be closed later 2025.
There will be more communication about this from North Somerset Council in the future.
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Howard R M Burnett I agree re new motorway junction but that's the responsibility of highways England and they currently have no plans for it. The bridge replacement can't wait unfortunately
Its bad enough by the landing light trying to get out going to be more chaos in the mornings.
In light of this & the increased traffic on The Runway, do you know if Beaufighter Road will be extended to join up with the Runway or another road? The warehouses are being constructed however Beaufighter Road is in a terrible condition.
Cllr Ciarán Cronnelly - Weston super Mare Do you know if there are any plans to connect locking parklands to Morrisons? Signs went up in 2020 with a link road coming in spring, then winter of that year. Then gone and nothing mentioned again. This would definitely help traffic especially if any Banwell bypass work is being carried out along Wolvershill road at the point of the closure and closing it. The recent closure of Wolvershill road caused a heavy increase in traffic in itself.
Hi Cllr Ciarán Cronnelly - what will the effect be on train services?
That’s Weston buggered for 12 months… bad enough as it is, takes almost an hour to get through Haywood already after work, along with other routes. There’s alot more work needed to be done else where before that bridge is closed
How will on call firefighters living in Haywood / Hutton / oldmixon be able to respond to the fire station within five minutes? This will quite severely affect response times
I thought we were told Haywood Village wouldn't become a rat run? It's already rammed full of traffic queues at the end of every day in both directions. How is this level of traffic going to be managed for a year?!? Wouldn't it be proactive to join Locking Parklands with the morrisons round-about before closing another main road?
What will be done for the children that need to walk from Haywood Village to Hans Price
The master plan for Haywood includes a new bridge connecting Haywood to the roundabout by McDonald’s/Iceland, wouldn’t it have been better to get this built before demolishing the Winterstoke road one?
Let’s hope the main road through Hutton and out toward Banwell, will be open before this work starts…….
Hannah Orchard
Paula Michaela Hides
Jamie Ridgway 🫠🫠
Diversion Strategy
I have expressed to the council the need to have a robust diversion strategy, in light that this is a key road for Weston-super-Mare and there are limited alternative roads traffic can be disbursed.
Currently the council have undertaken traffic modelling to understand what the impact of various diversion strategies could be, the expected journey time delays and volume of traffic. This modelling work continues.
I have highlighted to the council the additional need to ensure the Runway and roads through Haywood Village are made safer through speed mitigation, the need for a crossing point near Winterstoke Hundred, working traffic lights at Haywood Village, and need to consider how they can mitigate the additional traffic caused by Weston-super-Mare football club match days.
I’ve also asked the council to explore how they can ensure that only traffic going through Haywood Village is local traffic for residents, and what can be put in place to ensure residents can enter and leave Haywood Village as frictionless as possible.
I’m waiting for further updates about these suggestions and will update residents once I know more.
GET IN TOUCH
I can help residents with various local issues who live in the ward of Winterstoke (Weston-super-Mare) which includes Haywood Village, Locking Castle and Weston Village.
Please use the contact form to get in touch with me. Please remember to provide as many details as possible, including your name, address and full details of your issue.