Bridge strike safety warning

Highways bosses are being urged to extend the safety barrier on a busy bridge that forms part of the main route between Preston and Southport – after the side of the structure was struck three times in the space of six weeks.

Concrete blocks had to be put in place to plug a gap that was left in Bank Bridge, on the A59 in Tarleton, after the most serious of the incidents in July.

Before the month was out, the blocks themselves had been hit – and there was a further minor collision just a few weeks later.

County Cllr Thomas de Freitas – who represents the West Lancashire North division – says it is “an absolute miracle” that a vehicle has not so far fallen into the River Douglas, which the crossing spans.

“But, potentially, it’s just a matter of time,” he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS). He also warned that pedestrians were in danger from drivers losing control at the blackspot.

The bridge – which lies close to the border between West Lancashire, Chorley and South Ribble – stands just beyond a sharp right-hand bend for Southport and Liverpool-bound traffic. An advisory 30mph limit is in place on the approaches, from both directions, within what is otherwise a 40mph stretch of road.

County Cllr de Freitas has called on Lancashire County Council to take short-term safety measures to reduce the risk level on the key route – and investigate a more substantial long-term solution, such as building a brand new bridge.

He says the most sensible immediate step would be to lengthen the metal safety barrier on the westbound side of the road – which currently comes to a stop just before the point at which the bridge wall is being repeatedly bashed.

“It’s a couple of meters further up [that the accidents are happening] – so the crash barrier itself barely ever gets hit.

“Extending the barrier would make it safer, because vehicles wouldn’t risk going into the water – and it would protect pedestrians as well, [especially with there being] a kindergarten just a couple of hundred yards away.

“’I’ve also asked the county council if they’d consider rumble strips to make motorists aware that they’re maybe drifting [from their lane] – and ‘dragon’s teeth’, which are white triangles on the road surface that make it look like the lane is narrowing and slow you down,” County Cllr de Freitas explained.

However, after being told following the first of the July accidents that a review by County Hall road chiefs would be completed within four weeks, the Conservative politician has now been advised by the Reform UK-run authority that the outcome will not be known until just before Christmas. Any recommended changes may then be considered for inclusion in the highway works programme for the 2027/28 financial year – meaning they could be up to 18 months away from implementation.

The LDRS approached Lancashire County for comment, but had not received a response by the time of publication.

County Cllr de Freitas said he wanted the push for action to be a cross-party one – and that he was in contact with neighbouring Reform county councillors over the matter.

He added that the issue was not solely one of safety, but that it also had economic implications – because of the disruption to the local road network when repairs to the bridge have to be carried out.

Last year, temporary traffic lights installed during one such job caused “multiple-hour delays”, he said.

Should the road have to be closed completely for any length of time, the only alternative route is through the narrow village streets of Croston – which would cause “absolute chaos”.

The spate of strikes on Bank Bridge over the summer is just the latest in a series of incidents at the site.

There had been two serious and three slight accidents at the location in the preceding five years – with several more on the immediate approaches from Windgate from the south and Liverpool Road from the north – according to the Crash Map website.

County Cllr de Freitas said the safety record pointed to the need for “all options” to be on the table when considering a remedy – including the installation of a “parallel structure” to widen the road as it crosses the Douglas and the adjacent Leeds-Liverpool Canal.

Back in 1993, the Department for Transport explored the idea of going even further and completely re-routing the A59 between its junction with the A565 Southport New Road and the Carr House Lane roundabout – turning it into a dual carriageway in the process.

Rather than heading east towards a near-90-degree northern turn at the bridge, the proposed new stretch of road – starting with a new roundabout at the A59/A565 interchange – would have followed a more gradual north-eastern path, passing beneath Coe Lane.

A government consultation document published into the ultimately unfulfilled proposal stated: “The alignment of the A59 trunk road at the canal and river bridges at Bank Hall is very poor, with a sharp right angle bend immediately east of the bridges.

“Visibility eastwards to this bend is limited by the road layout across the bridges and the bend obscures [them] from the A59 to the north. Across the bridges, the road narrows with bridge parapets close to the road edge.

“These factors combine to create a major hazard to safe driving which is indicated by the presence of extensive traffic warning signs on the bridges and their approaches. Local accesses at the western end of the canal bridge add to safety problems.

“Despite the extensive traffic warning signs, the accident rate for this length of the A59 is higher than the national average for rural A-roads.”