Temporary repairs to Whitby’s swing bridge, which North Yorkshire Council (NYC) said would be done before the end of summer, are still not confirmed.
Back in June and July, NYC said several times it was planning to trial a lighter road surface to help stop the bridge getting stuck in warmer weather – as the black road surface was absorbing heat in hot, sunny weather which caused it to expand and get stuck when the bridge opened and closed.
The authority had planned to trial a lighter road surface to deflect, rather than absorb, light and heat by the end of summer and, if it was successful, carry out permanent works.
However, this week a spokesperson for NYC said of the re-surfacing: “Further works to the swing bridge are yet to be confirmed. We will keep the public updated when we have more details.”
It follows a failure on the bridge on Tuesday evening where it got stuck again due to a sensor fault.
The swing bridge was closed for nearly a fortnight in July as engineers effectively shaved off the ends of each side of the bridge to allow it more room to move.
The town was split in two halves and shuttle buses were being put on to take people from one side of town to the other.
The fire service had also been drafted in earlier this year to spray jets of water to cool the road surface during unexpected closures.
