The Clifton Suspension Bridge is to be closed to vehicles for six hours on its birthday on Thursday for maintenance and inspection - and that will have a knock-on effect on Bristol’s new Clean Air Zone, just ten days after it started.
The road across the bridge will close to traffic and cyclists from Clifton to Leigh Woods from 9.30am to 3.30pm on Thursday, December 8, although pedestrians will still be able to walk across, and cyclists will be able to get off and walk their bikes through. However the Bridgemaster has said she’d rather people didn’t, because the walkways are so narrow.
But the road itself will be closed to all traffic - and it is the official route across the river to avoid the Clean Air Zone, as suggested by the Mayor of Bristol himself when the CAZ started last Monday.
Read next: Bristol Clean Air Zone covers Portway and Cumberland Basin to 'encourage change'
A council spokesperson has said the CAZ cameras on the diversion route will be de-activated, which will mean anyone who had been intending to go across the Clifton Suspension Bridge for those six hours on Thursday won’t be photographed and charged or fined for following the diversions that take them through the Clean Air Zone.
The diversion route would be signposted for drivers taking them from the Clifton side of the bridge, across Clifton Down, down Bridge Valley Road onto the Portway, over Plimsoll Bridge and onto Brunel Way, off at Winterstoke Road, back up Rownham Hill to the Leigh Woods side - and vice versa for traffic going the other way.
That would take drivers through the Clean Air Zone cameras on Bridge Valley Road, on Brunel Way and at the Winterstoke junction in Ashton Gate, so the cameras that would catch drivers on that specific route will be switched off during those six hours.
A spokesperson for Bristol City Council said: “Any planned closures will have clearly signposted diversion routes. If a diversion route goes through or enters the CAZ and the driver of a non-compliant vehicle follows that diversion, they won’t be charged. Cameras along that route will be suspended for the duration of the diversion.
“However, if people use part of the diversion they stray off that route elsewhere in the CAZ, they will incur a charge. This goes for the Suspension Bridge Closure on 8 December,” she added.
This could also mean that drivers who aren’t actually diverting away from the closed Clifton Suspension Bridge might be able to take advantage of the turned-off cameras, however, there are multiple cameras at each individual gateway route onto the Winterstoke junction, and it may well be that only be the cameras at the slip road from Ashton Court that will be switched off.
Bridgemaster Trish Johnson said the work will take six hours and will involve maintenance and inspection of the weighbeams on each side of the bridge, as well as repairs to the stonework on the Grade I listed Toll House - which was hit by a driver in a vehicle recently, and lighting works on the chains.
Read more: Thousands of drivers 'caught' in Clean Air Zone every day in council test
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“We have some maintenance to carry out on our weighbeams which monitor the weight of vehicles crossing the bridge, so they are very important,” she said. “We will also take advantage of the closure to repair some stonework on the Toll House, which was damaged by a car, install scaffolding for works to the tower roof tops and to carry out lighting works.
“During these bridge closures pedestrians will still be able to use the bridge, using one of the footways but there will be no access for vehicles and cycling will be prohibited. Cyclists may dismount and walk across the bridge, but due to the narrow footways, are requested to avoid using the bridge if possible.
“Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust wishes to apologise for the inconvenience which this closure will cause. We hope that by keeping the road open during the morning and evening busier periods we will minimise the disruption caused,” she added.
The inclusion of Brunel Way and the A3029 over the Cumberland Basin in the CAZ has been one of the more controversial elements of the introduction of the Clean Air Zone on November 28. Before the start-date, Bristol Live revealed that the cameras would be switched off on that route in the event of a closure of the M5 Avonmouth Bridge, which normally sees thousands of vehicles, including heavy lorry traffic, head down the Portway and over the Plimsoll Bridge.
Now, Bristol City Council has confirmed the same scenario is the case with the closure of the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
Read next:
- Where the borders for the scheme will fall street by street
- When will the CAZ charges operate
- Clean Air Zone start date finally announced
- Clean Air Zone fee and how people will be charged
- Bristol Clean Air Zone timeline: the story so far as start date finally announced
- Thousands of drivers 'caught' in Clean Air Zone every day in council test
- Camera error sends Clean Air Zone warning letters to drivers who've never been to Bristol
- Clean Air Zone and underground metro will make cycling safer claim council chiefs
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