Tower Road Bridges 'A' & 'C'
The two bridges on Tower Road provide vehicular access across the Birkenhead docks complex which is known as Great Float. The bridges date back over 150 years and were originally hydraulic bascule bridges powered from the nearby Italianate steam engine house. Both structures had suffered from heavy corrosion to the structural steelwork and required the extensive repair and replacement of many lattice girders on the bridges’ top chords plus other areas of bridge-strike damage caused by errant vehicles.
Repair work top each bridge was tackled in sequence with extensive traffic diversions put in place around Birkenhead Freeport and work had to be sequenced around the scheduled raising of Bridge ‘A’ to allow passage of merchant ships.
Following the steelwork repairs, the bridges were enveloped in access scaffold which in turn was encapsulated so that the painting and repair work could be carried out in controlled conditions. In addition, the pedestrian footbridges attached to the side of the structures required complete steelwork replacement and re-decking and most of the work to the footbridges was carried out of temporary floating pontoons.