Bridge demolitions will divide villages
Two Yorkshire villages are to be divided from mid-August, when the bridge joining the two is demolished at the start of works to build a new one.
Scholes and Cleckheaton will be separated for almost a year, while work is carried out on the project to build a new bridge over the M62.
An exhibition into the demolition scheme was held at Whitcliffe Mount School last week so members of the public could see the details and question project managers. It followed concerns raised by local people about bus routes and diversions during the 10-month scheme.
Highways Agency project manager Steve Wright said a project of this magnitude was unavoidable, and it was prudent to do it sooner rather than later.
"There is an ongoing deterioration with the bridge. It's not unsafe now, but the work needs to be done," he said.
"We are being careful to deliver the work in a realistic time scale and are making considerations for the fact that there is asbestos within the bridge. This means we have to carefully consider how we take the bridge down."
The demolition is expected to take 15 weeks from October, before the embankments are reinforced to cope with the new bridge. Time has also been set aside for another cold winter.
