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Tuesday 16 Dec 2014

Temporary reopening of Salford bridge over Christmas and the New Year

Region & Route:

Work to rebuild the Broughton Road bridge in Salford - part of a £1bn investment to improve the railway in the north of England - will cease over the festive period to allow for the road to temporarily reopen.

Network Rail has agreed to reopen the road between Friday 19 December and Sunday 4 January 2015 to minimise the impact the closure will have on local businesses over Christmas, one of the busiest times of the year for traders.

The decision was taken following discussions with Salford City Council and is possible because of the reduced activity at the site over Christmas. Work to remove utilities which cross the bridge is already underway and a temporary surface will be laid to allow the bridge to reopen. It will close again on Monday 5 January until 16 July 2015.

A spokesman for Network Rail said: “While the bridge replacement is essential as part of our work to electrify the railway and provide a better service to passengers, we have listened to the concerns raised about the closure over Christmas and have been able to temporarily reopen the road between 19 December and 5 January. The road will then close until 16 July 2015 while we rebuild the bridge to accommodate overhead lines underneath which will power electric rains through the area. There is never a good time to close roads and we do all we can to minimise the impact as much as possible.”

Once complete, the new bridge will not need any major work for over 100 years, providing additional benefits to the local road network. Electrification of the railway will provide faster and more frequent services, with more seats for passengers, and help support economic growth across the north west of England.