In a recent letter from Elwyn Thomas, the Stirling Council Bridge Project Engineer, to Alan Booth, the Secretary of the Dunblane Community Council, the timeline for the repair to the Kinbuck Bridge was outlined. The estimated completion date for the repair is now 28th October.
From: Elwyn Thomas
Sent: 27 August 2013 12:02
To: Alan Booth
Subject: B8033 Kinbuck bridge update
Dear Mr Booth,
Further to your correspondence with my colleague Lorna Martin recently
regarding the Allan Water bridge at Kinbuck, I just wanted to write and give
you an update on the situation. We’ve been working hard behind the scenes
to get the repairs underway.
We initially had to assess the damage and determine what work needed doing.
As well as the obvious sections of damage, cracking was noted between the
road and the base of parapet over much of the remaining length of the
upstream parapet, indicating movement. Furthermore, inspecting the damaged
areas closely we were concerned about the condition of the mortar within the
parapets. Much of it appeared to be loose with no structural integrity and
we believe this is likely to be widespread throughout both upstream and
downstream parapets. We have made the decision to take down and completely
rebuild both parapets rather than simply carry out a patch repair.
We’ve been drafting the specifications and tender documents and getting
access scaffolding designs done. We’ve managed to agree a shorter tender
process than normal and the tender documents were sent out last week to
three contractors for competitive prices. We will get the prices back on 6th
September. We have stressed that we need the contract on site as soon as
possible, however, realistically, it is likely that after contract award, it
will still be a further 2 weeks before site start. I anticipate the repair
works will take 3-4 weeks to complete. Adding in erection and dismantling of
scaffolding, my best estimate of date of reopening is the 28th October but I
can’t guarantee it at this stage.
This recent incident, the second or third this year already, has been the
catalyst for getting the layout of the approach from the South side looked
at again by our roads and traffic management teams. They’ve worked up a
design for a slightly revised alignment, including permanent ‘bell shaped’
bollards that redirect vehicle wheels back into line should they be taking a
potentially bridge-damaging approach. We will carry out this works at the
same time as the parapet works and this will better protect the bridge and
allow us to remove the unsightly red & white ‘temporary’ barriers.
We have recently enforced the road closure with concrete blocks and we do
appreciate the significant inconvenience that the closure causes. On behalf
of the Council I apologise for the disruption. I’m hopeful that when it
reopens we will have addressed a lot of the long term problems with this
bridge.
regards
Elwyn Thomas
Bridge Project Engineer