Cyclists and pedestrians are treated like crap - everywhere

So, there’s a popular bridge route used by thousands of cyclists and walkers. It needs some very minor maintenance. So what does a privatised water authority do? It announces that the bridge will be shut for sixteen months. And comes up with some spurious excuses…

We were informed in November 2008 that the bridge was closed because of falling debris; however at no time has the river been closed to river traffic. Although there has been no public access to the engineers’ report, our understanding is that no major structural work is required such as replacing the cables, and therefore the only work which appears necessary is to repair the decking and repaint the structure.

We understand that both the City and County Councils have already agreed to make financial contributions to the cost of the repairs.

We conclude that it is unreasonable that the work should not be completed within two months and would urge you to consider a shorter time frame to minimise further disruption. If this is not the case the public should be fully informed as to why not.