Westmorland and Furness Council is applying for government funding to replace two bridges near Kendal.
Brigsteer and Underbarrow bridges, which span the A591 near Kendal, were closed as a precautionary measure due to structural concerns. After detailed analysis, the bridges opened under a 7.5 tonne weight limit in February 2025.
The council has made an initial "outline expression" to the government's Structures Fund to replace the bridges. A final submission has to be made by 3 August, with an announcement on funding awards expected in the autumn. In the meantime, work is ongoing to make the temporary restrictions on bridges permanent
Cllr Peter Thornton, Cabinet Member for Highways and ICT, said: "We have high hopes that the government will look favourably on our bid to the Structures Fund but even if successful, there will be much work to do to fully assess and design the best solution for those replacement bridges before construction could start. For this reason, we need to make the restrictions on the current bridges permanent. We have monitored the temporary restrictions and made changes to ensure disruption is kept to a minimum."
There is no guarantee that the bid will be successful, and if it is, design work alone could take more than 12 months.
Urgent action was recently taken to protect the bridges from the risk of damage or even collapse after repeated breaches of weight restrictions and the process to make the temporary restrictions permanent is under way.
The results of recent camera monitoring showed multiple breaches of the 7.5 tonne weight restriction, which was put in place after the bridges were classified as weak structures.
HGVs typically weighing up to 40 tonnes have been observed making return journeys over the bridges. Over a 13-day period of monitoring, nearly 30 weight restriction breaches were identified.
A 6’6” width restriction was put in through temporary traffic management to prevent larger vehicles using the bridges were put in place, as well as a 20mph speed limit.
The temporary arrangements are being monitored and work is now ongoing on the design of the permanent highway remodelling for the width restriction. Hopefully in place by September, the permanent restrictions will be mostly the same as the current arrangement, but with high kerbs rather than bollards. The existing weight limit and temporary width limit signs will be combined into new signage.
The design and installation of the permanent traffic management and signage forming the width restriction will be subject to an independent safety review to ensure it meets the appropriate standards.
Brigsteer and Underbarrow bridges, which are reinforced concrete half joint structures erected in the 1970s, were initially closed to all vehicles in 2024 following assessments by external experts that identified structural concerns.
Following further testing, survey works and detailed structural analysis by experienced consultants, the bridges were re-opened, initially under a three-tonne weight restriction, then increased to 7.5 tonnes in February 2025.
The council’s consultants confirmed that no further refinements were possible, and the bridges must permanently remain at a 7.5 tonne limit. As the bridges are now classified as weak structures, no exceptions to the weight limit could be permitted.