Nether Bridge in Kendal will close to all vehicles for up to five days from Monday 12 October while engineers rebuild a 10-metre section of the southern parapet wall damaged in a traffic incident in June.
Westmorland and Furness Council says the closure will run 24 hours a day, in both directions, rather than only during working hours. The signed diversion will use Romney Bridge and Milnthorpe Road.
The five-day period is a maximum rather than a fixed length. The council has not published a start time of day, contractor or cost for the work.
What the closure means for drivers
The bridge must be fully closed because the confined site needs several large items of equipment on the deck at once. These include site vehicles, an underbridge access unit, masonry materials and mixing equipment, which together occupy most of the carriageway. The council says it cannot keep a running lane open while the repair is carried out.
Drivers of high-sided vehicles will see additional signs directing them away from Parkside Road. The railway bridge on that route has a height restriction of 13ft 3in, making it unsuitable for HGVs attempting to avoid the main diversion.
The closure will affect school-run and commuter journeys across the bridge, and anyone arranging a delivery or trade visit during the week has been advised to make clear which side of the River Kent they are on.
Pedestrians and cyclists can still cross
Pedestrians and cyclists will be able to cross Nether Bridge using the northern footway. However, the southern footway will remain closed for several weeks after vehicles return to the road.
Protective covers are needed while the new stonework and mortar cure. Those covers will obstruct the southern pavement, meaning people who usually walk on that side will need to cross to the northern footway even after the road has reopened.
The council has not yet advertised a temporary traffic regulation order for the closure, according to the source’s check of the Public Notice Portal on 12 September. The legal notice normally appears within a fortnight of the work and will set out the diversion in full.
Why the repair is taking place in October
Nether Bridge was damaged early on Wednesday 17 June when about 10 metres of parapet wall was displaced and heritage stone fell into the river. An out-of-hours crew made the structure safe, installed concrete barriers and reopened the road that morning.
The bridge was then closed for several hours on Monday 22 June, from 9.30am until about 2pm, so a truck-mounted crane could recover the stone from the watercourse. The council said a permanent repair would take months because it required a contractor with experience in high-profile heritage work, as well as Environment Agency consent and Natural England assent.
Nether Bridge is a scheduled ancient monument protected under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. Historic England records it as list entry 1007110. The bridge also crosses the River Kent, which is both a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation.
The repair will be carried out entirely from the bridge deck, avoiding scaffolding in the river channel. The council says scaffolding in the channel would have required environmental permitting and could have delayed the work until the next allowable river-working window in summer 2027.
October also allows traditional lime mortar to cure before colder weather arrives. Where possible, stone recovered from the river in June will be reused, with locally sourced stone added where necessary.
Councillor Peter Thornton, cabinet member for highways and ICT, said: We recognise that these works will cause some inconvenience to road users and local residents. However, these measures are necessary to ensure the safety of the workforce, bridge users, and the travelling public while the repairs are undertaken.