A 34metre span steel bridge was craned back into position above the A280 in Angmering following a 12-week overhaul on Wednesday night (16 December).
The paint system used on Angmering bridleway bridge should triple the refurbishment’s lifespan, and reduce the bridge’s carbon footprint and future maintenance costs.
The council is believed to be the first local authority in the south of England to use fluoropolymer paint: it is anticipated to last in excess of 50 years, as opposed to the 12 to 15-year lifespan of previously-used paints.
Roger Elkins, Cabinet Member for Highways and Infrastructure, and Deborah Urquhart, Cabinet Member for Environment, both saw the refurbishment for themselves on Thursday, and heard about the background to the overhaul from Engineering Project Manager Christian Baxter and the scheme’s designer, Principal Engineer Michael Taylor.
Roger said: “We learned from the highways team about the painstaking work which went into the refurbishment project, which was two years in the making. The planning included a lot of investigative work in identifying the four-layered paint system as the way ahead for our bridge refurbishments.”
Deborah said: “It’s anticipated that the bridge’s carbon footprint will be greatly reduced because there should not be as many maintenance cycles involved in keeping it in a good state of repair.
“This is very positive news as it will also contribute towards the county council’s aim of becoming carbon neutral by 2030.”
In October, a crane was used to lift the corroded bridleway bridge from its position over the A280 into an adjacent car park so it could undergo the complete overhaul. Over the 12-week-period, the bridge has had all paint and corrosion removed and then been repainted.
It will be closed until 5pm on Friday 18 December so final quality checks can be carried out.
The principal contractor for the project is Landbuild.
