Cleveland Bridge due to reopen in autumn, council says

Cleveland Bridge in Bath is a grade II* listed structure

A monitoring system will be used as a precautionary measure when a 200-year-old bridge reopens later this year.

Bath and North East Somerset Council has said it is planning to reopen Cleveland Bridge in Bath in late September, early October.

An independent engineering report stated that an intelligent monitoring system was a reasonable precautionary measure to allow the bridge to reopen.

Councillor Manda Rigby said: "Safety remains our number one priority."

The report recommends a staged approach to reopening the bridge, initially the 18-tonne temporary load restriction would remain.

The system would provide early detection of any changes in the response of the structure enabling the introduction of control measures to ensure public safety.

Scaffolding on the bridge will start to be removed from August and the work is anticipated to take up to six weeks.

Current traffic signals would remain in place until the monitoring system was operational, it added.

Councillor Manda Rigby, cabinet member for transport, said: "As the renovation of the bridge progressed, and previously unknown issues like the hangar bars have challenged the renovation, we have followed expert advice from independent engineers.

"The latest report before us by independent bridge engineers recommends using a monitoring system to allow the bridge to be safely brought back into service as quickly as possible, this option is being progressed with the aim of opening the bridge to two-way traffic by late September/early October."