The county council has put an immediate weight restriction in place on a road bridge at Zouch to prevent vehicles exceeding 18 tonnes GVW (gross vehicle weight) travelling over it.
The restriction is being put in place on safety grounds, following a deterioration in its condition which prompted further testing and a review of the bridge’s load-carrying capacity.
The restriction takes effect on Zouch Road, Hathern; Main Street, Zouch; Rempstone Road, Normanton-on-Soar; Melton Road, Stanford-on-Soar, and Ashby Road, Rempstone. Temporary signs are now in place making road users aware of the restriction and advising them instead to use routes on the A46 and A6.
Additional measures will also be put in place in order to prevent vehicles from gaining access to the vulnerable footway areas on the bridge.
Earlier this month, the council revealed plans for a bid Government’s Levelling Up Fund for up to £20m so the bridge on the A6006 can be replaced.
We’re taking this action to ensure public safety while we bid for the money from Government.
The council itself can’t afford to replace this vital asset and it’s another example of the significant financial pressures which the council is experiencing across all areas.
Person:Councillor Ozzy O' Shea, cabinet member for highways and transportIf successful with the funding bid – an announcement is expected later in the year - the project at Zouch would see the new bridge built to the south of the existing bridge, which was built in 1930.
The much-needed improvement on the A6006 at Zouch is also seen as a way of bolstering a key, strategic route to the UK’s only inland Freeport around East Midlands Airport, the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station redevelopment site and the East Midlands Intermodal Park near the Derbyshire Toyota plant.