MOTORISTS are facing long delays to get in and out of Reading due to a three-month project to repaint a railway bridge.
Network Rail started work on Monday, February 12 – the first day of half-term – and drivers faced queues of traffic.
Just one lane is open on the A4 London Road underneath the railway bridge at the Suttons Seeds roundabout, but it needs to feed traffic coming off the A3290, as well as vehicles heading from the Shepherds Hill roundabout, and local traffic.
Queues were snaking along Kings Road towards Reading College, up St Bartholomew’s Avenue, along London Road, and The Drive as people attempted to undertake their regular commute.
Emergency vehicles and buses also struggled to get through the queues.
It is feared the situation will worsen next week when schools resume lessons.
Green councillor and leader of the main opposition party on Reading Council, Rob White, said: “London Road is busy at the best times, yesterday with the lane closure for repainting works it was gridlocked.
“It is a shame that the works couldn’t be done overnight to minimise the impact on residents stuck in traffic and from air pollution from all the idling vehicles.”
Network Rail says the work is necessary on the 106-year-old bridge, as the paint has faded and needs completely replacing to stop the structure from rusting. Works take place between 7am and 6pm each day. Off-peak working is not possible due to scaffolding requiring supports on the carriageway itself, so traffic lanes cannot be reopened at peak times.
Spokesperson Chris Denham said: “We’re going to shotblast the steel back to bare metal, treat any corrosion and then give it a coat of green paint.”
Reading Today understand that the firm was asked to explore all options, such as off-peak only or weekend only works, but it was not possible due to scaffolding needed to ensure safety and to protect the bridge’s structure.
However, the company says that they worked closely with road specialists and local authorities to choose the best way forward.
Mr Denham said overnight work would be noisy and would prevent people from sleeping, closing the road altogether would cause worse disruption, but not save much time.
“The other option is weekends, but we couldn’t get this job done over weekends – the bridge is too big and we would have to work overnights as well to get it done,” he added.
While describing the project as painting the bridge might sound like an easy task, Mr Denham said it was more complex.
“The work involves shot-blasting the structure back to bare metal, and as a result we have to encapsulate the work in a sealed chamber built from scaffolding and shrink wrapped in plastic, with dust filtration equipment fitted before the air inside the encapsulation is circulated,” he explained.
“This stops paint dust and metal flakes escaping. The paint we’re stripping dates back decades and needs careful treatment and the dust taken away as it’s not environmentally friendly.
“The scale of the scaffolding is huge, and not suitable for wheeling anywhere, even if there was a location nearby where it could be wheeled.”
If the work was undertaken by utilising a cherry picker instead of scaffolding, the paint would only have a 15-year lifespan, rather than 25. This means Network Rail would return in 2038 to restore the bridge, rather than 2048.
“It’s just a big job,” he continued. “The structure gets blasted back to bare metal and then we work through it treating any corrosion or repairing sections that need it.
“Once that’s done we can get on with painting it – four coats of paint, which all need to dry fully before being painted over.
“Then we have to take the whole work site apart and move it over the other side of the road, which takes a week each time.”
Mr Denham said the timescale includes a contingency, in case the bridge throws up some surprises.
As to why the work cannot be done off-site, he said: “There are no panels that can be removed, it’s a solid steel structure.”
But he also promised that the end result will be worth it.
“We’ll also renew the pigeon proofing etc, so Reading gets a much better looking bridge back.”
