DRIVERS have been urged to take care after the bridge located on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal between Dimmingsdale Lock and Wightwick Lock was stuck by a vehicle for the fifth time in 14 years. Lucy Wood reports…
The Canal & River Trust is carrying out urgent repair work, estimated to cost £80,000, to the badly damaged parapet. Repeated collisions have taken a serious toll on the bridge’s original masonry, prompting the trust to call on motorists to slow down and take extra care when driving over historic canal bridges.
CRT senior project manager Paul Ardill said: “The region’s canals are a national treasure; part of our shared heritage. Every time a bridge is stuck by a passing vehicle, it chips away a piece of heritage that we can never fully replace. This latest strike has caused significant structural damage to the bridge’s masonry, prompting urgent conservation and repair work which will take weeks to complete.”
The bridge is one of about 2800 such structures maintained by the trust. Most were built in the 18th and 19th centuries, long before the advent of modern vehicles, making them vulnerable to strikes by wide or speeding traffic. The trust is urging all road users to observe signage, reduce speed and take extra care when approaching hump-backed or narrow canal bridges.
Paul added: “Vehicle strikes cost us, a charity, more than £1 million a year, with many incidents going unreported. On this occasion we do have the drivers’ details so we can claim some of our costs back from their insurance company. However, often our bridges are damaged in hit-and-run incidents, leaving us to pay the bill.
“If everyone driving over these bridges took things slower, we could save our priceless pieces of our canal history from being badly damaged.”
As this issue went to press, the road, canal and towpath remained closed while debris was removed, and the bridge made safe.
