Swing bridge closures are reducing

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THE number of occasions Warrington’s notorious swing bridges are “off” to road traffic is reducing.
And the number of occasions the three bridges in Knutsford Road, Wilderspool Causeway and Chester Road are swung at peak road traffic periods has also been reduced.
Warren Marshall, group head of port planning at Peel Ports Group – who own the Manchester Ship Canal – has given the latest figures in a presentation to Stockton Heath Parish Council.
He said the bridges had been opened for canal traffic on 728 occasions in 2013, but on only 568 occasions last year. At the same time, the number of “peak period” closures had been reduced from 116 to 72.
The peak period is defined as Monday-Friday, 7.30am to 9.30am and 4.30pm to 6.30pm.
Mr Marshall said the reduction had resulted from Peel Ports using larger ships and also because of a short term loss of business contracts.
He said arrangements had been made for the tolls at Warburton Bridge to be suspended in extreme circumstances and this had happened twice in the last 12 months.
An early warning system for swing bridge openings had been set up on Facebook and Twitter.


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