The Bedser Bridge Arrives in Pieces

One side of the new Bedser Bridge

I looked out of the window early on Sunday morning to discover there was traffic control on Brewery Road. I had one vain hope it might be Surrey County Council contractors come to find out why the road flooded last week.  But I was soon to find out this was not the case.  

A little later in the morning I went out to take my daughter to a party and learnt the arrival of the new Bedser bridge across the canal was imminent.  I was a little concerned about the pedestrian arrangements during this activity as we were told to wait for the "banksman" and be escorted along the road.   How would the workmen cope with the pedestrian traffic heading into town after 11 on a Sunday morning I wondered.  I needn't have worried.  An hour later after I had dropped off at the party, wandered through the French market, checked out the new Maplin shop on Commercial Way and done a little Christmas shopping; the road was fully open. The bridge, or pieces of the bridge,  two sides as far as I could see, had been safely delivered to the site.

The main structure of the bridge will be wooden.  It looks so much better than the concrete monstrosity which was proposed initially.

Now we just have to wait for the pieces to be put into place and the rest of the structure around the bridge to be completed.  We were promised a new bridge early in 2013 but my recent questioning suggests it could be Easter before we can cross the canal from Brewery Road again.  If it as late as this that will have been a year we have all had to make the long walk around via Chobham Road and the five point crossing to get into Woking.