December 10th 2013

Junction of Litchurch Lane and London Road to close to pedestrians and cyclists

A temporary footbridge for pedestrians and cyclists will open on Friday 6th December to allow the existing 135-year-old London Road Bridge to be demolished and replaced with a modern single-span bridge.

The pre-fabricated footbridge, which was installed in two 25-tonne sections by a 400-tonne crane positioned at the top of Litchurch Lane, sits alongside the old bridge and will be open for pedestrians and cyclists to use to travel along London Road from 1.00pm on 6th December.

LondonRd

From Monday 9th December, the junction of Litchurch Lane and London Road will then be closed to pedestrians and cyclists – meaning Litchurch Lane will only be accessible from its junction with Osmaston Road. This is because it will no longer be safe to allow pedestrians and cyclists to pass through the demolition site, which will be directly above the railway lines.

Security

The temporary footbridge will be lit in the evenings and there will be security measures in place. Cyclists are being asked to be courteous to other footbridge users and please dismount when crossing the bridge.

Once the temporary footbridge is open, preparations to demolish the old bridge will step up, with old utilities being decommissioned, the road surface stripped and kerbs removed. Demolition of the existing London Road Bridge, which crosses the main Derby to Birmingham Railway line, is on track to take place between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, when no trains will run.

On budget and on target

The £6.9 million essential regeneration project is on-budget and on-target to be completed by August 2014. One major challenge for the project has already been successfully completed with the large amount of pipes and cables for companies such as BT, Severn Trent and Western Power diverted along the temporary footbridge meaning the old bridge can be demolished.

After the demolition, major work will have to take place to adapt the foundations ready for the new bridge. Once built, the weight restriction will be removed and the new bridge will restore a key route into the city and improve links to two of Derby’s flagship regeneration schemes, the new Castleward urban village and Nightingale Quarter.

Tim Clegg, Director of Partnerships and Streetpride, said: “The replacement bridge is a major investment in the infrastructure of the City and its economy and is funded by £4.4 million successfully secured by the Council from the Department for Transport (DfT) and £2 million from the Council’s Capital Budget with third parties contributing £0.5 million.  “The replacement of the old bridge was essential as it had reached the end of its life-span and was at risk of being permanently closed to traffic. It had deteriorated to the point where a 7.5-tonne weight limit had to be enforced and the bridge was being supported by props under the bridge and protected by concrete barriers along the pavement. A full replacement of the bridge will remove the weight restriction and prevent the need for extensive disruptive repairs and further restrictions for many years to come. The project will be delivered through Network Rail, with Morgan Sindall as the principal contractor.”

The replacement London Road Bridge is expected to reopen in August 2014.

For more information about the project, visit the London Road bridge page.