Black Cock Bridge is being It’s being repaired, because, well, it dates from 1920ish in it’s current form and is, well, fucked. Or well fucked, take your pick.<\/p>\n It’s a bit of a landmark, and quite a thing to drive over, or to cycle over<\/a>. It’s steepness is due to it being jacked up over the years to accommodate the canal banks getting raised (by around 4ft 8in, 1.4m or so, it is rumoured) due to subsidence. If you want to read the full details on that, Brownhillsbob covered it over a decade ago in impressive detail here<\/a>.<\/p>\n I’d been meaning to go and take a look at the bridge: there’s been a lot of noise as the corroded steel has been cut out.<\/p>\n Here’s a view of the west side of the bridge. You can see the wooden beam that the steel deck used to rest on (and see how rotten the wood is). The steel was in an even worse state, from photos others have taken. You can also make out the layers of brickwork as the walls were built up when the deck was jacked up.<\/p>\n and here’s a view of the west side, without the bridge deck there, you can see where the jacks fitted to raise the deck.<\/p>\n The there’s this odd bit of tarmac cut out, just down the slope; I wonder what work was carried out under here?<\/p>\n The fact the bridge is being repaired, not rebuilt, is interesting. Many local bridges have been replaced, most notably the next one up at Clayhanger<\/a>, in 1994, which was previously very similar.<\/p>\n The problem here is that there isn’t enough room to do that kind of job here: the approaches are too steep and everything is too close, so a new bridge will not meet modern standards and still fit.<\/p>\n It’s been pointed out that you could probably do it by taking the canal over the road on an aqueduct, but the chances of that being done for a minor road are pretty minimal because of cost.<\/p>\n Hence, it’s a repair, and one that will actually leave the bridge narrower by 8in\/400mm, and looking rather like the nearby Hollander’s Bridge<\/a>, which is closed to traffic. Now, it is true that Queen St carries less traffic than Green lane, but one can’t help wonder if Black Cock Bridge will end up closed, as has been mooted before now. <\/p>\n Mere speculation, but it would not surprise me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Well, if that doesn’t get the search engines going, nothing will. I’ve made end of cock jokes here before, of course. Black Cock Bridge is being rebuilt repaired. Definitely repaired, not rebuilt. It’s being repaired, because, well, it dates from 1920ish in it’s current form and is, well, fucked. Or well fucked, take your pick. … Continue reading The End of Black Cock?<\/span> rebuilt<\/strike> repaired. Definitely repaired, not rebuilt<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Black](\"http:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/images\/\/IMG_20220603_110657060_HDR-300x225.jpg\")
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