AT LEAST two more weekend closures of the M4 will be needed before the A432 Badminton Road replacement bridge is finished.
That’s the warning from the National Highways Agency following the weekend closure last month that saw thousands of drivers diverted through Wick and Warmley and along the ring road to Hambrook.
The M4 was closed in both directions between the Bristol and Bath junctions, at Hambrook and Tormarton, from 7pm on October 18 until 6am on October 21.
National Highways said the motorway usually carries up to 4,000 vehicles an hour at weekends, and had warned drivers in advance to avoid the area if possible during the closure.
Throughout the weekend there were queues not only on the diversion route – along the M32, A4174, A420 and A46 – but on many other roads in the area.
Although National Highways appealed to drivers to stick to the signposted diversions and not follow alternatives suggested by smartphones or satnavs, there were long queues on many routes.
South Gloucestershire Council adjusted the timing of the lights at junction 1 of the M32 and at Deanery roundabout in Warmley to prioritise traffic using the diversion, and monitored traffic flows to adjust sequencing at other locations as required.
The bridge, which carried the main road between Bristol and Yate, has been closed to motor traffic since last summer after inspectors found “structural failures” during a routine inspection. The concrete and steel bridge was built in 1966 and was designed to last for 120 years.
National Highways plans to remove it in March or April next year, which will mean another motorway closure. A third will be so that steel supports for the new bridge, which is due to open in 2026, can be installed.
But before the bridge can be removed the utility supplies which run through it – water and gas mains, electricity and fibre optic cables – have to be re-routed under the motorway, which was the reason for the October closure.
National Highways route manager Sean Walsh said: “There’s no good time to do something like this. We carefully plan our schemes to limit any inconvenience, but sometimes it’s not possible to carry out the work that’s needed without a closure.”