A weight restriction has been placed on the A530 Baddington Lane Bridge near Nantwich for safety reasons.
The 7.5 tonne limit on the bridge, which crosses the old Nantwich to Market Drayton railway line, will be in place from Monday (Sept 29th).
It means heavy good vehicles are likely to be diverted down the A525 through Audlem and Burleydam.
The bridge is owned by The Historic Railways Estate (HRE).
Cheshire East said a recent inspection showed the bridge “cannot safely carry very heavy vehicles”.
The council added: “There is also an issue with an unstable embankment on the southern side of the bridge, which will also be fixed as part of a long-term plan for the site.
“The road will stay open for vehicles under 7.5 tonnes, with traffic lights in place.
“Larger vehicles will need to follow a signed diversion route.
“Please do not use Coole Lane, as it’s not suitable for vehicles over 10 tonnes.
“We’ve spoken to local haulage and bus companies to make sure they know about the changes and the correct diversion route.
“We know this may cause disruption and we thank drivers for their patience while we work with HRE on a permanent solution.
“We will continue to liaise with local councillors to manage local impacts as far as is possible.”
For updates visit: https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/highways_and_roads/roadworks/baddington-lane-a530.aspx
This appalling situation has been going on for years. At a very minimum the road surface should be made up to a good standart. The damage to vehicles is no joke. Closing the road to heavy goods vehicles is not an answer either.I should think the diversion of the lorries will incur extra fuel cost to companies.
Don’t belive the ‘recent study’ . read it on their website study was carried out in October 2022
That’s a very good point Steve, I was thinking of course its needed but you are right, there is no need for the road to be raising higher now and it could just be straight through.
A big effort to fix but for sure cheaper than trying to retrofit a new bridge in.
I am sure the local caravan residents could help.
The bridge is no longer needed.
Save money and knock it down.
Alas it doesn’t matter which way they divert traffic it’s all about which way the local drivers know. The official diversion is ridiculous. Sound and Coole lane it will be.
I can’t see that bridge getting replaced in a year or two, it’s had support structures under it for several already.
this area has been left for years, there is no intention to repair it, it saves money by just limiting the weight of traffic its a new way CE has found to save money, genius I say!!
This has been allowed to manifest into a major issue when repairing the bridge at first signs of problems many many years ago would have avoided this restriction.
HGV’s should not be sent into Audlem, that road and the village centre are not capable of handling the volume of HGV’s along with farm and general traffic. Send HGV via the A51 and A49 to Whitchurch. If HGV are routed to Audlem there will be accidents and no diversion is worth injury or worse.
They cannot be diverted to Audlem, already the village traffic is often at a standstill with bottlenecks in every direction!
The permanent solution is a Southern bypass or permanent bridge restrictions. There are far too many HGV’s thundering into Nantwich and clogging up the local roads to get access to the A500/M6. Also the damage to the roads is evident and no council cash to repair them just compounds the issues.