Bridges
Poole's Bridges
Borough of Poole is the Highway Authority and is responsible for the bridges, located in the town, that are owned by the Council. We have approximately 120 bridges in all and the Council owns 86. Other authorities such as Railtrack (railways) and the Highway Agency 
(trunk roads) own the rest.
As a general rule the bridge belongs to the organisation that required the bridge in the first place. Ownership may be transferred such as when the responsibility for a route changes.
Our inspection programme covers all bridges. Priority is given to those on main routes. From this a programme of maintenance work can be drawn up. Inspection of bridges; due to vehicle collision, storm damage or other such causes; are investigated as soon as is possible. In the case of collisions we can claim back the cost of structural repairs if we are able to obtain vehicle details.
Bridge Strengthening
In 1992 the maximum permitted weight of lorries crossing bridges was increased to 40 tonnes. All bridges in Poole were assessed to see if they could cope with this increase safely.
Priority was given to principal roads on the works carried out under the strengthening programme. For substandard bridges on the non-principle road network, decisions are made whether to permanently weight restrict rather than strengthen.
Each bridge was considered on its merits taking into account safety, economic and environmental factors. Pending strengthening, public safety can be maintained on bridges by using temporary weight restrictions or other measures and restrictions.
Poole's historic Lifting Bridge also required strenghtening. Use the following link to access Poole Bridge lifting times.
Maintenance Programme
We have a comprehensive inspection programme in place to help maintain a bridge in a serviceable condition. This can mean anything from the repainting of the structure as Poole Lifting Bridge was in 2003 to the complete replacement of a bridge as Turlin Moor footbridge was in 2004.
Bridges are generally inspected every two years while principal inspections are carried out on larger structures or those with historical significance every six years.
Special inspections are done as and when required after such incidents as a vehicle collision or river erosion or whenever there is a problem that may compromise safety or reduce the structure’s ability to carry the vehicles that use them.
The inspection process examines the condition of the bridge, which assists in prioritising repairs to be carried out as part of the maintenance programme.
We are currently aiming to complete a set of Bridge Condition Indicators that will bring us up to the latest nationwide Highways Agency standards when it comes to prioritising bridge maintenance work. From this, we will be in a strong position when applying for additional funding from government to carry out major refurbishment projects on our bridges.
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