Closure of Weymouth Town Bridge and Swannery Bridge

Dorset Council is due to start nine weeks of repairs on the Town Bridge today while also carrying out night-time maintenance work on the Swannery Bridge this week.

Both bridges carry key routes in and out of the town centre across the harbour.

The work on the 92-year-old Town Bridge is a major job to fix cracking welds which attach the steel decks plates on to the bridge beams.

It has been stressed that if the welds are not replaced water will get through and start to corrode the structure and cause much greater damage.

From today until Friday the bridge will be closed to all vehicles during the daytime. From 5pm to 7.30am it will be open but with two-way traffic lights in place.

The bridge will be open this coming weekend, but again with traffic signals in place, and then it will close to all traffic from Monday, October 3 until the work is finished - the target date is November 30.

One footway over the bridge will stay open for pedestrians during the work and the bridge will continue to lift for boats. More work on the bridge will be carried out next year.

Meanwhile, contractors will be working at night this week on Swannery Bridge and at the big junction with King Street, Commercial Road and Radipole Park Drive (below).

Work started last night and will continue this week until Saturday with the area closed from 9pm-6am.

Google Maps (Image: Google Maps)

Dorset Council said it has identified part of Swannery Bridge and the King Street crossroads as being in need of repair.

Parts of Radipole Park Drive, Commercial Road and Jubilee Close will also be resurfaced during the same period.

A Dorset Highways spokesperson said: "To enable us to carry out maintenance work, we plan to close the junction between 25th and 30th September 2022.

"The road will be closed overnight between 9pm and 6am but it will be open (during the day).

"During the closure periods there will be no on street parking available. Parking restrictions will be imposed to prevent waiting or parking."

For both sets of work, locally signed diversions will be in place although in the case of the Town Bridge, the diversion route may not be suitable for HGVs and longer vehicles.

The timing of the work has been criticised by the chairman of Weymouth and Portland Hackney Carriage Association Eddie Hawkins who claims the closures taking place during the same week will negatively impact the local economy. He called it 'bad planning'.

Dorset Council said the two sets of work have been co-ordinated so that there is always vehicle access over the harbour to the town centre.