Bridge strengthening
The maximum permitted weight of lorries is 44 tonnes.
All bridges have had to be assessed to see if they could cope with this increase safely.
Pending strengthening, public safety is maintained on those bridges assessed as weak by using temporary weight restrictions or other measures and restrictions.
Work carried out under the strengthening programme gives priority to principal road bridges.
For substandard bridges on the non-principal road network, decisions are made whether to permanently weight restrict rather than strengthen.
Each bridge is considered on its merits taking into account safety, economic and environmental factors.
Page updated: 1 Nov 2011
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