The footbridge that links Millbrook with the towpath and Kestrel Park reopened to walkers and cyclists on Thursday morning, ten months after floodwater undermined one of its piers and forced its closure. A small crowd, including children from Millbrook Primary School, crossed the river as soon as the barriers were lifted.
The steel and timber bridge, built in the 1940s, was damaged during the high river levels of last January, when debris piled against its central support and scoured away the riverbed beneath it. Engineers found that the pier had tilted by several centimetres and closed the crossing as a precaution, cutting a route used by around 1,500 people a day.
Stronger and wider
The repair has gone further than simply fixing the damage. The central pier now sits on new piles driven eight metres into the riverbed, protected by rock armour, and the deck has been widened from two metres to three so that walkers and cyclists can pass each other more easily. The work cost €2.3 million, most of it from the council's flood resilience budget.
Councillor Ravi Desai, who represents Millbrook, said the closure had been hard on residents, particularly older people and parents taking children to school, who faced a detour of more than two kilometres via the road bridge at Ashdown.
For ten months the village has felt cut in half. Today we have our shortcut back, and a better one than before.
Margaret Doyle, who has lived beside the river for more than 40 years, said she had walked over the bridge almost every day of her adult life. "I missed it more than I expected," she said. "You do not realise how much a small bridge holds a place together until it is gone."
The council said the bridge had been designed to cope with a flood one metre higher than last winter's peak and would be inspected after every major high water. New lighting along the approach paths is due to be installed before the end of next month.