Swing Bridge breakdown - update
Whitby Swing
Bridge remains inoperative but we still hope to have it in full
working order by the weekend and we are putting every possible
effort into making this happen.
As announced yesterday, replacement parts for
the worn out gearbox shaft on the western leaf of the bridge have
been ordered and are being delivered by airfreight from Italy.
They are scheduled to land at Teesside Airport
tomorrow afternoon.
The Italian company, Brevini, has engaged
additional labour to assemble the new gearbox shaft, which would
normally take four to six weeks.
The new gearbox shaft and other bridge
components will be combined and tested at the Teesside workshop of
the council’s contractor on Thursday.
Engineers will be on site on Friday morning
and will start to install the new gearbox shaft and we hope to be
in a position to open the bridge by Friday evening.
We have also ordered additional parts as part
of a contingency plan, should further problems develop in the
future.
The total cost of the parts, plus labour, may
run to around £25,000. As we expect the bridge to be working
by Friday evening, other temporary measures, such as providing a
footbridge over the River Esk, have been ruled out as they would
take a similar amount of time to put in place.
View the Whitby Swing Bridge webcam at
http://www.whitbyswingbridge.co.uk/
We are now providing shuttle bus services that
are operating between the two sides of the town. This service
is free to the public and will operate frequently from 6am to
midnight throughout the period of the bridge closure.
Appropriate signing has been provided at the
bridge and elsewhere to direct people to the temporary bus service,
which is available from the Bus Station on Victoria Square on the
west side of the river and from Mister Chips on Church Street on
the east side of the river.
Private entrepreneurs, independently of the
council, are continuing to ferry passengers across the river and
they are currently charging £1 for this service.
John Riby, Head of Technical Services said:
“We realise the closure of the bridge is having an impact in the
town, but in our publicity, and with the help of Welcome to
Yorkshire, we are continuing to get the message out that both sides
of Whitby are very much open for business.
“We appreciate it has caused inconvenience to
residents, traders and visitors to Whitby and I would like to thank
people for their continuing patience and understanding. We
held a very constructive meeting with traders and residents on
Monday night and have listened to the concerns that were
raised.
“We will continue trying hard to keep people up to speed with
developments, both on our website and through the local media.”