National Highways has given an update on the removal of the infill on the Great Musgrave Bridge in Westmorland, saying after a month of work it’s making “steady progress.”

Last September the Government-owned company received an enforcement notice from the local council to remove the infill which had been carried out in 2021. The removal is scheduled to take 13 weeks.

Circular cores have been drilled into the infill material, with some of these now reaching the full width of the bridge. Removing the infill in this way enables the structure to be protected, assessed and repaired as necessary.

Next, excavation of the infill material will continue on both sides of the bridge alongside detailed work to look at refurbishing longstanding defects to identify repairs that might be possible on some sections of the bridge, such as its wingwalls and parapets, while the infill removal process is ongoing. Doing this now could reduce the roadworks needed to strengthen the bridge after the infill material has been removed.

(Picture – National Highways)