Maintenance works starts today on the Flintshire Bridge

Maintenance works are due to start today on the Flintshire Bridge on the A548 over the River Dee.

Maintenance is scheduled to start today on the cable-stayed bridge and take up to eight weeks.

The bridge will be closed to traffic for several weekends in November and December while essential inspection and maintenance of the cables is carried out.

Traffic will be reduced to one lane during weekdays for works to be carried out on the deck and the bridge will be closed on the following weekends to allow works to the cable stays on the pier:

7-8 November

21-22 November

28-29 November

5-6 December

12-13 December

All traffic management measures will be removed during the Wales Rally GB which takes place from 11-15 November.

Barry Wilkinson, Highways Network Manager said,

“We appreciate these works may cause some inconvenience but ask for the patience of the travelling public whilst this essential maintenance is carried out.”

The Flintshire Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge spanning the Dee Estuary in North Wales. The bridge links Flint and to the shore north of the River Dee at the southern end of the Wirral Peninsula. The bridge cost £55million to construct.^[1] This cost was met by the then Welsh Office and in the future, maintenance costs are expected to be the responsibility of the local authority Flintshire County Council.

The bridge was officially opened in 1998 by Queen Elizabeth II. It carries part of the A548 road and has been nicknamed ‘the bridge to nowhere’ by locals.^[2]

It is the largest asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the whole of Britain.^[3]

The Welsh Assembly Government is now considering the Flintshire Bridge as an alternative route for a major road expansion through the county, after plans to expand the A494 in Deeside were scrapped in March 2008.