Council bids for new bridges funding
Westmorland and Furness CouncilA council is applying for government funding to replace two bridges previously closed over structural concerns.
The Brigsteer and Underbarrow bridges, which cross the A591 near Kendal, Cumbria, were shut in June 2024.
They reopened several months later with a 7.5 tonne weight restriction imposed in February 2025.
Alongside the funding bid, Westmorland and Furness Council says it has now put a 6ft 6in (2m) width restriction and 20mph (32km/h) speed limit in place after a number of HGVs were seen using the bridges during a 13-day monitoring period.
An announcement on whether the application to the government's Structures Fund has been successful is expected this autumn.
Councillor Peter Thornton, cabinet member for highways, said if it was approved there would be "much work to do to fully assess and design the best solution for those replacement bridges before construction could start".
The local authority said it had also recently taken "urgent action" to protect the structures from the risk of damage or collapse as lorries typically weighing up to 40 tonnes had been "observed making return journeys over the bridges".
In total there had been nearly 30 weight breaches, it added.
Bollards are in place to enforce the width restriction but, subject to an independent safety review, they are to be replaced with high kerbs by September.
Made of reinforced concrete, the bridges at Underbarrow and Brigstreer are known as half-joint bridges because their central section rests on L-shaped joints.