M48 Severn Bridge set for weekend cable work closures
M48 Severn Bridge will be closed to all traffic on the weekend of 16/17 April.
The M48 Severn Bridge will be closed to all traffic on the weekend of 16/17 April for the next stage of works to inspect the suspension cable.
The bridge will be closed from 7am on Saturday, 16 April to 10pm on Sunday, 17 April and – weather conditions depending – between 6am and 10pm over the weekends of 16/17 July and 23/24 July to enable the lifting of an inspection gantry to a high level on the suspension cable.
Chris Pope, Project Manager for Highways England, said:
The inspections are vital to allow us to understand the current condition of the suspension cables and confirm that the measures that we implemented over the last 10 years have been effective in ensuring the long-term viability of the bridge and the safety of its users.
The final weekend closure does coincide with the first weekend of the summer school holidays but agreed diversion routes are in place and we are not envisaging a major impact on our road users.
We have been working in conjunction with Severn River Crossing Plc, and the weekend closures have been planned to avoid any major events both sides of the bridge.
The inspection works started last month with lane one westbound being closed until 5pm on Friday, 2 September, and lane one eastbound closing from 9.30am on Monday, 16 May until 9.30am, on Monday, 17 October.
The ongoing inspection work is on schedule to be completed on time, and during the period of lane closures, vehicles over 2.9 metres wide are prohibited from using the M48 Severn Bridge.
For the duration of the three weekend closures, diversion routes will be in place across the M4 Second Severn Crossing.
And Mr Pope added:
We understand this work may cause some inconvenience and disruption but we are making every effort to ensure the impact on drivers is kept to a minimum.
General enquiries
Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.
Media enquiries
Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.