One of the main routes in and out of Ludlow, Ludford Bridge was damaged on Sunday night, when it was hit by a reversing truck that had tried to get up Lower Broad Street.
The damage to the bridge is much worse (see photos below) that I thought when I visited in the early hours of the morning. It is likely to take three to four weeks to repair.
At any other time of the year, the closure of this bridge would have a major impact on trade. But we do need the bridge open by the time the tourist season opens at Easter. Whether the work can be completed in four weeks is bound to depend quite a lot on the weather.
There is no estimate yet for the costs of the works. We collecting evidence about how the incident happened. This was an mishap caused by bad driving and the bill for repairs should not fall to council taxpayers.
If you have any information about what happened, please contact me.
Something similar happened about 7 years and it will happen again if HGVs are not banned from crossing Ludford Bridge.
Why do we have a bypass for gods sake its to keep l.g.v.s out of the town this bridge has had big trucks over it for years but mostly drivers who were either local or had traversed it for some time just bad driving but the elf and safety cones are way over kill for gods sake numpteys doing silly things go abroad and see their codes its not so much over kill
I believe the vehicle that did the damage was coming into the town centre to deliver to a surfacing operation. Hence the bypass would not have helped. I am expecting the bill for repairs to be landed on the perpetrator (who failed to stop). We will also need to review what instructions are given to large vehicles delivering to the town. If this has been new build construction, there would have been a traffic management plan.