Transport for Buckinghamshire and Councillor Alex Collingwood working with Marlow Town Council to protect the iconic Marlow Suspension Bridge
From Monday 23rd September 2019 Transport for Buckinghamshire (TfB) will be carrying out further work investigative work on the Marlow Suspension Bridge, working alongside Councillor Alex Collingwood and in collaboration with Marlow Town council and the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead.
TfB will undertake further testing on the bridge, attaching proximity sensor ‘testing apparatus’ to the bollards in order to determine driver behaviour and vehicle alignment in anticipation of setting the bollards in the future to the correct operational width restriction of 2 metres, this information will shape how the deterrent measures may be improved in the future.
Drivers will be alerted if their vehicle exceeds the 3T weight limit and/or the 2m width restriction by visual display units erected on both sides of the bridge and messages will flash up accordingly. The campaign is intended to help deter and prevent overweight / oversized vehicles from crossing the bridge creating immediate awareness to drivers and will last until 21st October 2019 demonstrating to drivers for those 4 weeks if their vehicle can legally use the bridge as part of their route
Over and above the testing and driver awareness campaigns, TfB will continue to assess the structural capacity of the bridge and have initiated a review of the traffic signs in the surrounding area, assisting TfB to analyse the condition of the bridge and proactively direct HGV’s onto alternative suitable routes before they reach the bridge.
Deputy Leader and Cabinet Transport Member, Mark Shaw, said:
“Education and data gathering are a key part of the prevention process and we need to do whatever it takes to protect this iconic structure and change behaviour. Gathering data whilst lifting awareness to the highest level is a collaborative process and will enable us to demonstrate further restrictions we may have to put in place.
Whilst we do not want to jump to conclusions at this stage the final data may take us in the direction of re-engineering the bollards to a tighter width again, to protect at all costs a costly and catastrophic event from occurring in the future, this exercise will help inform us of the options available to us going forward.”