Council told of bridge closure 'via social media'

The Orwell Bridge has fully re-opened after a partial closure was put in place while repairs took place

A council said it only became aware of issues surrounding the closure of a bridge through social media updates from National Highways.

The Orwell Bridge, near Ipswich, has fully reopened after a partial closure on 6 September for repairs to a bridge joint deemed "potentially unsafe" during a routine inspection.

Suffolk County Council has called for National Highways to improve communication, saying it "could have been better".

National Highways said a review of how the information was shared would take place.

Paul West, Conservative cabinet member for operational highways at the council, said issues around communication had been "frustrating".

"The Orwell Bridge is a key piece of infrastructure in and around Ipswich. When it goes down, the whole town goes down and grinds to a halt," he said.

The council has asked for a meeting with National Highways to discuss improving communication about future closures.

The closures had a significant impact on Ipswich's road network due to increased traffic and the need to delay any other planned works as a result, Mr West said.

Steven Thulborn, National Highways' head of planning and development in the East, said: "Safety is our top priority and reacting to the results of the inspection, the advice was we had to lose the capacity of the westbound lane for the last couple of weeks.

"We’ll do everything we can to review how we handled that situation and look at communication for our customers and those who travel on the bridge and see if we can do it better in the future."

He said information had been sent out to key stakeholders before the lane closure was put in place.

Routine inspections of the bridge would continue, Mr Thulborn added.