Bridges
A bridge is a structure that carries a highway over a river,
canal, railway, motorway, etc. or carries a railway, motorway, etc
over the highway.
The council is the Highway Authority and the 'Bridge Authority'
for the bridges owned by the council. The council owns and is
responsible for around 18 highway bridges.
There are other bridge owners/authorities and the largest of
these are the:
As a rule the bridge usually belongs to the organisation (or its
successor) that had cause to need the bridge in the first
place.
The council's bridges are inspected approximately every two
years and a programme of maintenance work is drawn up. Incidents of
damage through vehicle collision, storm damage, or other causes are
investigated as soon as possible.
In the case of damage to bridges by vehicles, reporting the
vehicle details may mean it is possible for the council to claim
the cost of the repairs to the guilty party.
Bridge strengthening
The maximum permitted weight of lorries was increased in
February 2001 to 44 tonnes. All bridges have had to be assessed to
see if they could cope with this increase in weight.
Pending strengthening, public safety is maintained on those
bridges assessed as weak, by using temporary weight restrictions or
other measures and restrictions. For substandard bridges on the
non-principal road network, decisions are made whether to
permanently weight restrict rather than to strengthen.
Each bridge is considered on its merits taking into account
safety, economic and environmental factors.
Further information
Public Realm
Mulberry Place (AH)
PO Box 55739
5 Clove Crescent
London E14 1BY
Tel: 020 7364 5004
Fax: 0207 364 3121
E-mail: generalenquiries@towerhamlets.gov.uk