Saturday, May 14, 2011

Sewage Bridge (aka Merryton Bridge) closed

Wire railings have appeared at each end of the bridge today blocking access. Will it ever open again, will any repairs ever be made?

17 comments:

Sparkotronic said...

I'm sure they will just make destroying the bridge a wee bit more of a challenge to the local thugs

Alan Barron said...

It is absolutely rediculous that the bridge has been closed. It should be opened as a matter of urgency for the convenience of the hundreds of local people and visitors who use it on a daily basis.
The bridge is not safe for sensible people to use. Let the powers that be put up a suitable sign if that would salve their PC consciences.

Alan Barron

Anonymous said...

just employ someone to weld on the bit of missing metal. Why oh why does everything have to be such a big deal here. Just do it... that should be Nairns new motto, then maybe someone will paint the regal, and then paint a box junction at the end of Manse road/ Waverly road, oh yes and while we're at it double white lines from the junction at Mossside road right out to Delnies Schoolhouse!
JUST DO IT!
Wait a minute though maybe thats too much like David Camerons "big society"

Anonymous said...

I have the perfect solution..lets have a rope bridge.. where you hold onto the higher rope and slide your feet along the lower one. You are all going to say NO, spoilsports.
Seriously how much longer can the road bridge cope with the high volumes of traffic on it these days , maybe they will have to close it. These old bridges were not built for that amount of traffic.

Anonymous said...

The barriers have been removed by someone and the bridge is being used as normal.

Anonymous said...

This is just a case of neglect - the paint is no longer holding the rust together on some of the bridge.
Something should have been done years ago.
Did anyone ever produce a report on the state of the bridge and were councillors told?

Chain mugger said...

Was our Provost there to cut the tape to reopen the bridge, or perhaps it Sandy with his spade?

Anonymous said...

Some locals may wish to notice a perfectly good bridge only a few meters upstream, with a choice of wide pavements to walk on.

I'd have thought some people would have more concerns in life, than moan about a small footbridge, when there's a great big bridge right next to it!

Anonymous said...

Do only 'locals' use the bridge? Also, are you missing the point about the bridge; it's a footbridge which means 'locals' and anyone else have a safe alternative to the great big road bridge a few metres away!
Well, they would have it if was repaired!

Anonymous said...

why would you want to walk on the bridge with traffic when you can have a lovely walk over the wee bridge . some people would scrap everything of interest in Nain. Its bad enough that the bailey bridge is closed to traffic. We almost lost the little shelter up by the view finder a few years ago.
The town will soon be unrecognisable to anyone , it will just be another boring little town with no interesting features.

Graisg said...

Too right, the Sewage Bridge is a safe chilled alternative and that is what Nairn is all about.
Let's not let the authorities keep this bridge closed.
Less than a year now to the Highland Council elections, let's see if our three members of the ruling administration can get this sorted or not, if not the voters will know what to do when the time comes.

Anonymous said...

I remember some years ago the same thing happened.Back then,a man from a
nearby garage arrived with a portable
welder, and did two spot welds on a spar.Five minutes,it was all sorted.
What's all the fuss about now.?

Anonymous said...

The trouble now is that it is actually vandalism that is taking it's toll on the bridge.

Now the wee hoodlums know that they can break it, they will.
They are all still hanging around and jumping the barrier, it's only a matter of time before they do more damage.

The way they closed it is laughable as well, the barrier is only held on by a bit of rope so I'm quite sure it will be in the river by the end of the week!

Graisg said...

It's not only the young, folk of all ages are still using the bridge. It can be quite easy to blame young people but did anyone actually see who moved the barriers installed to close the bridge? According to Scottish Water the barriers have been installed so work can take place - if no work is taking place then folk obviously feel entitled to use the sewage bridge rather than the more noisy alternative of the A96 where you can get a good sniff of exhaust fumes some days.
Bairns have climbed and hung off those railings for years. If you look carefully you will see that time has taken its toll a lot more than vandalism.
Yes a couple of rails were removed but that was pretty easy once the paint stopped holding the rust together.

Anonymous said...

Nice to see Liz's tweet. Unfortunately she's obviously not quite up to speed with the actual facts on the bridge. Also how can she possibly get basic facts like Scottish Water's telephone number wrong.
As my school homework often said - good attempt, but must try harder!

Graisg said...

@anon 11.36 Maybe Liz's number gets you further up the Scottish Water food chain however? :-)

Anonymous said...

How dare the bridge get closed! What right has this person to block access?