Emergency work to shore up Bristol river embankment 'too dangerous' to complete

The wet autumn, high river levels and high tides have affected the emergency work to stop the collapse of a river embankment in central Bristol - so contractors have stopped trying to shore it up temporarily and have instead switched to trying to fix it permanently.

It means that the closure of the road on top of the embankment in Bedminster will switch around, giving residents of Totterdown and Victoria Park a different route to take along the river.

That switch will happen on Monday, December 9, and will see York Road to the west side of the Langton Street ‘banana’ bridge closed. That means people driving to and from Victoria Park and Totterdown via St Luke’s Road will once again be able to come and go to and from the east and Bath Road Bridge and Temple Meads - which has been closed off for months.

But it does mean York Road will be closed further west - from the junction with St Luke’s Road and Spring Street in Bedminster, preventing drivers from heading that way out of Victoria Park.

The switch has come because of the weather. The council’s contractors have been attempting to crane in 600 one-tonne bags filled with rocks onto the river bank either side of the bridge, to protect the fragile New Cut river wall, which is 215 years old, from the river and the tides.

But that work has had to stop, because the river has been too high, even at low tide, for it to take place. “The emergency repair work often means contractors must work close to the river,” a spokesperson for Bristol City Council explained. “Heavy rainfall in September and October led to tides that have been roughly 1.5m higher than normal. This has made it too dangerous at times for the council’s contractors to be on the river bank to help guide the remaining bags into place,” he added.

That means the contractors have been unable to complete the emergency repairs, so they will now move on to the work to fix the wall itself more permanently - which will begin on the embankment on the other side of the bridge, switching the road closure to the Bedminster side of St John’s Lane.

“In a bid to keep the timeline on track, we are pausing the emergency works and starting on the permanent repairs, which means switching around the road closure,” said Cllr Ed Plowden (Green, Windmill Hill) who is the chair of the council’s transport and connectivity committee.

"I am sorry if this causes confusion, but we need to adapt quickly as circumstances change to try and keep this difficult project on track, and the safety of the work site must come first. I know how inconvenient the road closure is for local residents and businesses, and their visitors, so I’d like to thank you all again for your patience as we work to safeguard York Road and the river wall for future generations,” he added.

The long-term repairs, which will now begin earlier than expected on December 9, will see a sheet-piled retaining wall installed at the top of the bank to stabilise York Road, a concrete piled wall built behind the existing river wall, and trees and vegetation planted alongside the embankment once it’s been stabilised.