As works on the North side of the bridge reach their conclusion, our tenth project update explores what is still to happen before the works move across and start afresh on the South side – a change that is scheduled for the middle of next month.
With the painting of the parapet fences that run along the side of the footway completed, and a brand new handrail installed on top, the team have been working to reinstall freshly repaired and regalvanised safety mesh along the full length of the bridge. The mesh keeps little hands, legs (and snouts!) safely on the footway and can help visitors who aren’t keen on heights to feel more comfortable when walking across.
At each end, the paving on the top of the abutments has been neatly relaid. You might notice a small change when crossing on this side next month: there are some black boxes embedded in the paving, which will hold our brand new uplighters to illuminate the towers!
On the bridge itself, the painting team have been working their way along and adding coats of paints to any ‘touchpoints’. These are the places where the scaffolding (now removed) was clipped around the bridge’s chains and it wasn’t possible to fully cover them. Ticking each and every touchpoint off the list is an important job as these are places where the chains were not otherwise fully protected from the elements. This picture shows a tool used to measure the depth of a coat of paint – this is a quick and easy way for the painters to check whether the ironwork has been coated sufficiently.
You have probably also noticed the painting team popping in and out of the inclined shafts, where work to paint the anchorages continues. In these photographs, you can see the view right down to the bottom of the shaft, where the bridge chains are ‘plugged’ into the bedrock. The team have recently cleaned the access steps and are just completing painting the chains with a bitumen based paint, which is giving them that shiny black appearance.
Looking from the bottom all the way back up toward ground level, you can see that there’s still a way to go: some of the chains have been cleaned but are still awaiting their paint. Some of you will be wondering whether it’s possible to take a tour into these shafts – but the answer is ‘no – sorry’! (And we wouldn’t recommend it either due to the smell!)
