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This is the same agency that's blocked the Queensbury railway tunnel by pouring tons of gravel down one of the vent shafts.
Was it a coincidence that the shaft was easily accessible by lorries and people were trying to get the tunnel into use s a cycle way. -
The resource extraction and carbon emissions associated with that quantity of concrete is hugely damaging, quite apart from the impact on the site itself. Incredible that this kind of work is considered acceptable. Signed and signed.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/588581
Highways England, acting on the Department for Transport’s behalf, has plans to spend much of its quadrupled budget for managing the Historical Railways Estate of 3,200 disused railways structures by demolishing or infilling hundreds of them, compromising future greenway schemes by blocking or severing the routes they span or carry. The same plans could also jeopardise railway reopenings and extensions to heritage lines.
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Tragic
12 JUN 2021 —
It's looking increasingly likely that the battle to save Great Musgrave bridge in Cumbria will be lost.
Highways England started to infill this bridge on 24 May. It does not have planning permission and the local authority has twice asked it to stop. But it has continued with this vandalism regardless, citing Permitted Development powers which only facilitate temporary works in emergency situations presenting a risk of death or injury.
Great Musgrave bridge is (or at least 'was') in fine condition and repointing of open joints in the arch barrel would have delivered a capacity of 40 tonnes. It is crossed by a narrow and lightly-used country lane. But Highways England chose instead to infill it.
It is fair to say that the state-owned roads company has been guilty of deceit and dishonesty over the past three weeks. Yet, despite this, a bridge that is needed for a future connection between two heritage railways is now substantially infilled. Concrete will be pumped into the void between the crown and compacted aggregate early next week.
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They're basically filled underneath it (probably ruining a stream or path etc) to reduce maintenance costs for the road above?
The sides of the bridge still need repointed, so infilling the arch to save repointing that was just a waste of money and resources. Repointing it all and replacing a few stones would have been way cheaper, upgraded its weight limit and been a job complete.
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Highways agency infilling old bridges for no good reason
Posted by
@user69121
The highways agencies are planning to infill 120+ old railway bridges due to an imminent risk to the public. However, as can be seen and their own surveys prove there's little wrong with them.
They are currently working to cram tons of gravel and concrete under Great Musgrave bridge, which is costing way more than the pointing repairs that were required. Meanwhile the plans to reuse the old railway track is scuppered.
Theres probably a bridge near you, which is earmarked for infilling or demolition, which isn't needed. All its doing is destroying the legacy of the railways and stopping many plans to open the old tracks as cycle /walking routes or reopen heritage lines.
Paul and Rebecca Witewick have just posted a video with some background...
https://youtu.be/ZNJHPvGGK68
HRE twitter post with map and petition links...
https://mobile.twitter.com/thehregroup/status/1344592745973903360?lang=en