Kirkcudbright Bridge replacements could start next week
Councillors will be asked to approve investing £100,000.
The first steps could be taken next week towards a replacement Kirkcudbright Bridge.
Dumfries and Galloway councillors will be asked to give the green light to investing £100,000 in an outline business case for a new bridge.
The crossing was closed in March due to safety fears, with restrictions introduced so it could be reopened at the start of July.
An update was provided recently where council chiefs revealed that some drivers were blatantly ignoring safety restrictions and driving heavy vehicles over the weak bridge.
And roads workers who have been trying to uphold the safety measures while manning temporary traffic lights have been subjected to foul-mouthed rants from drivers.
Since then, a fresh report has been produced for the council’s enabling and customer services committee, which meets next Tuesday.
The documents states: “Members have been receiving regular updates in relation to Kirkcudbright Bridge that had to be closed for a period earlier this year.
“Indications are that the bridge is now at the end of life and a replacement will be required.
“The next steps will be for members to consider agreeing the bridge replacement as a strategic project and ensure that there is sufficient flexibility in the capital investment strategy to support the costs of the new bridge.
“To ensure that the development work can continue at pace, an initial development allocation of £100K is being requested to enable resource to be procured to support the current internal team to progress an outline business case for the new bridge and enable a more robust whole project cost estimate to be obtained.
“There is currently £450K available within the capital fund to support early-stage project development, it is proposed that the initial £100K development costs are funded from this fund.”
At the council’s recent economy and infrastructure committee, Dee and Glenkens Councillor Dougie Campbell asked if a timescale could be provided for when a new bridge might be in place.
Engineering design manager, Duncan McDonald, said: “The process is difficult to nail down in terms of the actual end date.
“We’re drawing on comparisons from other major infrastructure projects similar to Kirkcudbright Bridge in terms of timescales and that indicated quite a few years.”
Councillor Ian Blake – former chair of the economy and infrastructure committee – asked for the dedicated webpage about the bridge to be updated more regularly for the public.