Media centre

Thursday 4 Oct 2007

SAGE GREEN FOR RAILWAY BRIDGE

Region & Route:

A bridge carrying the main west coast railway line over a busy Liverpool dual carriageway is to be repainted a subtle shade of green in time for the city’s Capital of Culture celebrations. The bridge, which spans the A562 Smithdown Road, Wavertree is currently painted battleship grey and pockmarked with rust patches. Network Rail, which will be carrying out the work, got together with Liverpool City Council to jointly fund the £75,000 project because the road is one of the main gateways into the city centre and could be used by thousands of visitors during the celebrations. Jo Kaye, Network Rail’s Area General Manager said: “We are happy to work with the city council on this project because we want to help create a good impression of the city on all the visitors coming to the many events taking place. The Council’s contribution of £20,000 towards the total cost is most welcome.” Before the painting, the bridge will be grit-blasted to remove the existing paintwork and rust, and then primed to preserve the life of the bridge. The supporting brickwork will be cleaned up, repaired and re-pointed, and the safety handrail on top of the bridge will be painted a complementary shade of buttermilk. While carrying out the work, the pavements underneath the bridge will be jet-washed and pigeon proofing will be applied to surfaces where the birds usually roost, so that they no longer cause a nuisance to pedestrians passing underneath. To enable Network Rail to carry out the work, one lane of Smithdown Road will have to be closed in each direction for up to six weeks from Monday 8 October.