After Much Sound and Fury Work Starts on Tyne Bridge Repairs

After much sound and fury from Council Leaders and Government Ministers across the autumn, arguing over who was responsible for the delays to funding, the much needed repairs to the Tyne Bridge have commenced.

Preliminary work to prevent kittiwarks nesting on part of the bridge was undertaken last September, with the Council's experts working with ecologists and the Tyne Kittiwake Partnership to ensure temporary nesting sites were available for the protected birds during the works.

Councillor Pauline Allen, who sits on the Joint Tyne Bridges Committee, has been pressing for action over the last few years to help protect this symbol of Newcastle, welcomed the start of the work, saying: "It is great to know the repair works are now underway, they are much needed." 

Concerns about travel chaos

However, at December’s meeting, Pauline also asked questions about lane closures and continued pedestrian and cycle access whilst the work is carried out over the next four years. She highlighted concerns about the reduced road capacity in the city centre – particularly with other building work on Pilgrim Street already causing gridlock for traffic and buses. She also raised concerns about traffic light faults, leaves and puddles causing problems in cycle lanes and poor maintenance of city centre pavements. Metro problems were also making life much more difficult for commuters. 

Pauline said: "We currently have a perfect storm of other travel problems for pedestrians, cyclists, bus and Metro users and drivers. It is important that the traffic planners and engineers look at all these issues and take action to make things as easy as possible to get around whilst this much needed work is underway.”