East Ayrshire Council had to fork out over 25 per cent more to repair six bridges than originally agreed, a report has revealed.
Ayrshire Roads Alliance carried out almost £925,000 of bridge repairs on mostly minor roads.
Kevin Braidwood, head of Ayrshire Roads Alliance, told East Ayrshire Council’s Cabinet that this was almost £200,000 more than the original agreed contracts, with increases due to a variety of reasons.
In one case, at the C36 Nith Bridge, near New Cumnock, the final bill was around five times the original contract, after damage was caused by a vehicle between the award of the contract and the works beginning on site.
The repairs had involved rebuilding a short length of parapet that had been damaged by an earlier crash.
In a report to the Cabinet, Mr Braidwood, said: “The amount of masonry works on site increased significantly following the second vehicle strike.
“As well at this, the amount of scaffolding required also increase significantly due to it now having to span the River Nith and was not contained to the riverbank.
While the final cost has not been finalised, it is estimated to be almost £82,450, an increase of around £57,200 on the original £25,242 contract (a 226 percent increase).
Councillor Jim McMahon pointed out that repairs had been carried out before and asked Mr Braidwood to look at some additional traffic management measures to prevent future incidents.
Almost £245k was spent on the partial replacement of Priestland Mill retaining wall on the A71.
The report continued: “The wall was failing and leaning into a residential garden. Once the initial works started on the retaining wall and clearance of vegetation was done it became clear the structure was in very poor condition.
“The ground which the wall sits on was also very poor. The design of the new wall had to be changed to provide more stability to the wall. This resulted in the scope of the work being increased.”
This all resulted in a final estimated bill of £245k, coming in at £50k (25 percent) more than the original £195k contract.
Work to repair the U8 Hendryton Bridge, near Darvel, also required work on the culvert.
Once on site, it was determined that the work could not be carried out without demolishing and rebuilding the culvert.
This resulted in a 31 percent increase on the original contract, to a final bill of £77,096.
The council also spent £222k on the U32 Clearmount Bridge, near Newmilns.
The bridge had been closed to traffic since August 2018, due to deterioration of the arch.
This was almost £24.4k (12.31 percent) more than the original contract.
Mr Braidwood reported: “While on site, it was identified that some of the existing masonry was in poor condition and would not be able to be reused, this resulted in the requirement for more new stone to be imported.
Other additional works included tree removal in order to carry out the works safely and further drainage works.
Both the C129 Chapeltoun Bridge, near Stewarton, and U3 Braidley Bridge required similar works around the masonry arch.
The final cost of the Chapeltoun Bridge was £111,892 – £15,196 (15.72 percent) more than than the original contract.
Work on the Braidley Bridge uncovered a buried wing wall that required rebuilding to prevent future structural issues, said Mr Braidwood in his report. This required importing stone to complete the job.
The final bill of £186k was just over £27k (17 percent) more than the original contract.
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