HIGHWAYS bosses have denied claims that they have considered the removal of a village overpass across the A66.
National Highways (previously Highways England and the Highways Agency) has been looking at the future of the bridge, which crosses the A66 from the western end of Bowes to Clint Lane, as part of plans to upgrade the road.
Members of Barnard Castle Town Council last week raised concerns following a verbal report by Cllr Laura Drew, a member of the A66 community liaison group.
Cllr Drew told town councillors that there are only three lanes underneath the bridge where the A66 and A67 splits – two east bound and one west bound. She said Highways England wants four lanes for its multi-million pound A66 upgrade.
She added: “They wanted to squidge four lanes into the space but that was denied – which is great because that was going to become a safety issue. But we were not anticipating that one of their options was to remove the Clint Lane bridge to extend the highway but not replace it.
“From the point of view of Bowes, it’s a disaster – that bridge has to be replaced.”
Cllr Drew added that any proposals to remove the overpass would be subject to a separate public consultation.
“I suspect there will be uproar,” Cllr Drew added.
The town council has written to National Highways to make an official protest..
In the statement, town clerk Martin Clark said: “This is totally unacceptable for the community. The bridge provides access to the west end of the village, and an important through-route for the daily traffic for the primary school, among others. As a timely indicator of how important the bridge is to the village – next week the middle of the village (from the Grove to School House) will be closed to traffic for resurfacing works [for four days from November 9].
“Without vehicle access for the Clint Lane bridge, many properties in the village will be left isolated for several days, and emergency vehicles will be prevented access.
“There are also several farms on the road to the north of the bridge who will be forced to use the A67 to access the village and their farms.”
The bridge is part of the Pennine Way and any closure would also cut off pedestrian access to the village allotments on the other side of the A66. Cllr Chris-Foote Wood, also a member of the A66 liaison group, added: “Squeezing four lanes would create a situation similar to smart motorways – it’s going to be a danger. They want to scrap the bridge altogether and we need to nail out colours to the mast.”
Since the meeting took place, National Highways said opinions and reactions given by the town council were based on “inaccurate” information.
National Highways project director Lee Hillyard said: “We will be replacing the Clint Lane bridge as part of the A66 Northern trans-Pennine project. We plan to retain this important structure for the local community, and provide a footpath for walkers, cyclists and horse riders.
“We will be providing more detailed information regarding our plans in due course.”
Parliamentary debates on the Bowes bypass from the later 1970s suggest one of the reasons the bridge was originally built was to help farmers access land either side of the A66.
A report in the Teesdale Mercury noted in 1978: “Bearing in mind the need to provide means of crossing the bypass at Clint Lane they [the secretaries of state] consider that the advantages in the provision of a bridge at this point greatly outweighed the disadvantages.”
