Nearly £20million needed to restore substandard bridge in Milton Keynes

Figures show nearly £20million is needed to restore a substandard bridge in Milton Keynes.

Substandard means bridges are either too weak to carry 40-tonne vehicles or there is a weight restriction for environmental reasons such as a narrow bridge or narrow approach roads.

And figures from the RAC Foundation show that, of the 619 bridges in Milton Keynes, one was substandard.

The council estimated it would cost £18.5 million to bring the road bridge back to good condition.

Across Britain, councils reported 3,090 bridges were substandard – accounting for just over four per cent of the total 71,925 bridges. It was down slightly from 3,211 substandard bridges reported the year before.

The estimated one-time cost to clear the maintenance backlog on bridges across the nations is £5.9 billion.

Director Steve Gooding said the figures reveal the challenge local authorities are wrestling with to protect critical road infrastructure.

He explained: "The numbers illustrate how important it is for significant sums of money to be spent tackling at least the higher priority work.

"Whether it is potholes or bridges there is only so long that councils can continue to patch things up before bigger cracks literally start to appear in the road network."

Areas with the highest number of substandard bridges were Devon with 224, Cheshire East with 194 and Essex with 151.

David Renard, transport spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said councils are doing their best to ensure bridges are well maintained and can withstand extreme weather which is becoming increasingly common.

He added: "However, this is becoming increasingly challenging in the face of a backlog of nearly £12 billion to bring our local roads up to scratch.”

The Government is providing more than £5 billion of investment to authorities across England to support the maintenance of local highway infrastructure, including the repair of bridges and the resurfacing of roads up and down the country.

In Milton Keynes, one bridge will be restored to full capacity in the next five years.