Warning: Drivers avoid Avonmouth Bridge on Friday afternoons
Highway experts hope the new road surface on the M5 Avonmouth Bridge will last at least 20 years.
Resurfacing work on the northbound carriageway is now underway, causing delays at peak times.
Project managers are hoping the £7 million work will be completed before Christmas but this mostly depends on weather conditions.
They are warning drivers to avoid the bridge on Friday afternoons when traffic volumes reach their highest.
They are predicting delays of up to an hour and a half for southbound vehicles and up to an hour on the northbound carriageway.
The entire bridge was last resurfaced during the late 1990s when the number of lanes was increased to four on each carriageway.
Highways Agency project manager David Stock said the life expectancy of the road surface was normally about ten years.
He said the current resurfacing was a bigger job than normal because water had seeped underneath the tarmac to the steel structure below.
Workmen were having to strip the layers of tarmac away down to the bare metal and lay a waterproof membrane before resurfacing could start.
Mr Stock said some of the 100 workforce on the bridge were getting down on their hands and knees to make sure the metal surface was stripped of any residue so the new membrane would be watertight.
He said a new improved material was being used which was designed to last longer and give a smoother ride.
The southbound carriageway was resurfaced last year and the work finished about four weeks ahead of target.
An average 100,000 vehicles use the bridge every day, which means only a small incident can lead to delays.
Mr Stock said they dealt with an average four or five breakdowns a day on the bridge – most of which were due to motorists running out of fuel.
He said rubbernecking motorists who were interested to see the resurfacing work led to a slowing down of traffic and caused delays further back on the motorway.
The bridge is currently coned to create narrow lanes while the resurfacing work is carried out. But the cones stretch back about three miles to Junction 17 (Cribbs Causeway) on the motorway.
This is because a separate £10 million repair project is underway to replace ageing steel galvanised barriers on the central reservation with a new type made of concrete.
The outside lane on each carriageway is coned off because heavy vehicles and concrete mixers need room to access the central reservation.
Although the new central reservation will not stretch as far as the bridge, the coning is in place for safety reasons and to help ease traffic flows.
Work will start early in the new year on replacing central barriers on a stretch of the M4 between Junction 18 (A46 Bath turnoff) and Junction 19 (M32).
The Highways Agency is keen to keep motorists up to date with real-time information about traffic congestion on the motorways.
For more information, visit their website, www.highways.gov.uk/bristol.
18 Comments
View all
by Road worker, Bristol
Saturday, September 19 2009, 8:30AM
“If only you knew any knew anything about road works. When you paint something, do you paint the first coat, then paint the second straight after??? The same goes for the waterproofing. You cant just spray it on.
If you dont have constructive comments to make about something you know nothing about, then dont bother at all.”
by Creese, Bristle
Friday, September 18 2009, 9:44PM
“Only so much..... that precise eh?
Kind of explains the problem. Are the instructions on the back of a fag packet?”
by Road worker, Bristol
Friday, September 18 2009, 3:38PM
“Alexander. There are many other considerations such as only so much water proof membrane can be sprayed down, only so much tarmacing can be done, there is only so much concrete that can be made with the new concrete barrier needing a cast that cant move until its set.
Jaime, the South has lasted a year without any problems as it is Swedish material and equipment laying it.
Vic, You may think that is obvious but take a look at trafficengland.co.uk and motorway to see how well this message gets through. People are like sheep to the slaughter. Tell em dont do it, they do it more. By 1pm today it was queued past the RAC building South. Is that advice heeded even though obvious to you??”
by Roger Whittall, Portishead
Friday, September 18 2009, 3:12PM
“And our sincere thanks go to the moron who decided putting signs up on the motorway telling the HGV'sm Cars and Caravans what the alternative routes are. Thanks to them, the Portbury Hundreds is jammed with tourists this afternoon. Just what the locals need!”
by Vic, Bristol
Friday, September 18 2009, 2:25PM
“Avoid the bridge on Friday afternoons when traffic volumes reach their highest...
Oh, and while we are on the topic of the Bleeding Obvious, please don't attempt to whistle with custard in your mouth.”