It's not falling down, still quite strong (never had a weight limit imposed ) but it has concrete disease. It's only going to take three weeks to pull down, but nine months before a new one is up and in service.
Why so long you might ask? My opin
ion is that work on the M62 underneath the bridge could be the key factor where widening is taking place, so with the old bridge and its pillar supports gone, this can go ahead before the new single span bridge is erected having no central obstructions.
In this modern day and age, no temporary bridge, even with only pedestrian access can be built, too wide for a single span unit we are told, so the villagers of Scholes have no choice but to put up with it.
There is no suitable walking access for the large amount of schoolchildren to get to the schools (only one down Wellands Lane, quite a way round and dirty in wet weather), and as for the free (?) school buses and parents' cars taking the Pack Horse/ Moorside diversion route, all roads such as South Parade, Wescliffe Road are chock-a-bloc already and Whitechapel Rd is non stop between 8am-9am every day.
Branch Road will become a rat race causing problems at the bottom with the already busy A 58 increasing volume down to Chain Bar. I think the Scholes public should have been given chance to air their views on this project earlier.
JAMES ALAN
Whitechapel Road
SCHOLES
