Morston bridges update

Morston Bridges

Friday 25 July will see the completion of Bridge 4 and the new viewpoint at Morston and we plan to open it as the new access at 3pm.

The remaining work that will take place this week will involve establishing the ramp leading to Bridge 4 and fitting the final handrails and anti-slip boards and the steps leading off the viewing platform. 

 

Next week will see a bench being installed on the viewing platform and chestnut paling being erected as part of our ecological mitigation work required by Natural England to allow the vegetation to re-establish on work sites and the area immediately north of the viewing platform. Temporary fence lines will be taken down, matting removed and the digger access track graded. There are also some minor works to go back to on Bridge 2 to relocate some of the bolts which are now sticking proud on the footpath to the ramps.

The temporary pontoon and works access and platform at Bridge 4 has been removed over the high tides last week and using local support. 

We will be present at the viewing platform alongside Dunella on the 12 August between 2-3pm so please do join us for a drink and bit of cake and maybe see some of you on Friday for the opening!

Footpath Repairs

With the bridge project being completed, we are starting to think about repairing the path between the bridges, and the specification and logistics of it. To help our thinking you may spot different types of footpath options being trialled over the summer to see how they fare with lots of foot pressure.

In order for Morston to be business as usual for the summer we are hoping that works can start in the Autumn once schools are back and the main visitor period is over. We will be maintaining access to visitors at all times.

We need to gain certain consents and agreements for the works and will look at the best approach to be undertaken but we have been looking at the logistics of moving large quantities of gravel and materials for footpath repairs.

With the temporary vehicle crossings being in place for the bridge project we have an ideal opportunity for moving the materials, with the temporary pontoon crossing at Bridge 2 and the temporary culverts at Bridge 1 and 3.  We have decided to give ourselves some flexibility and are therefore leaving these in place ready for the Autumn.

We will be in contact again shortly to share our thoughts about the path design and we can talk about this more on the 12th. 

 

Victoria Egan

Countryside Manager