Bridge closure congestion 'less than anticipated'

Kerry Ryan in the Hull City Council control room

Officials at Hull City Council (HCC) say they are "quite pleased" with the level of traffic congestion caused by a bridge closure, despite complaints from businesses.

Drypool Bridge was shut on 15 September until November as part of a "major repair and strengthening programme", the authority said. The A63 Myton Bridge is also closed on several weeknights.

Kerry Ryan, head of transport and traffic management at HCC, said: "We appreciate there's a lot of inconvenience, [but] we're quite pleased with the level of congestion that we're seeing."

"The congestion is less than what we anticipated," she added.

The council said it recognised the impact the work was having on daily travel and was working hard to minimise disruption by using measures such as AI technology to control traffic and opening a temporary park and ride site on Holderness Road.

Ms Ryan said: "We fully understand that closing Drypool Bridge to all traffic has caused disruption, but these works are absolutely essential to repair the bridge and prevent future closures and long-term congestion."

Sean Higgins, intelligent transport manager at the authority, said they had seen positive results from using AI.

Explaining how the system worked, he said AI looked at all available data sources and suggested the optimum timings for traffic signals to reduce delays.

"In terms of the Drypool closure, and the key results for the buses, it's reduced it from about an hour to six minutes," he said.

Despite the measures, businesses in the city previously expressed concerns about the impact of the scheme, with commuters also reporting delays.

One motorist told BBC Look North their usual 15-minute journey was taking up to an hour.

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