Tamar Bridge to close to pedestrians and cyclists until September
The Tamar Bridge will be closed to pedestrians, cyclists and mobility scooters from today (15 April) - and is expected to remain shut until September.
From this evening, the south cantilever lane will be shut to pedestrians and cyclists because of ongoing resurfacing works.
Three traffic lanes will be kept open throughout the work, at peak travel times, to help minimise disruption to bridge users.
Some bridge users have expressed frustration about the closure.
Tamar Crossings said it was carrying out the project over the summer because of "the need to carry out the majority of the works during the dry and mild weather."
A spokesperson added: “It is also not possible to carry out the works solely at night as the lanes cannot be re-opened to traffic until the resurfacing has been completed. Working at night also introduces other issues, such as worker safety and noise.
"Using heavy plant and machinery at night would have a major impact on the lives of the people close to the bridge.
“Traffic management arrangements will be put in place on the evening of Thursday, 15 April to enable Phase 1 of the project to begin on Friday, 16 April.”
The first phase will require both the north and south cantilever lanes to be closed to all users, while the three lanes on the main deck will remain open to traffic.
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Drivers from Saltash will be diverted from the north cantilever onto the main deck of the bridge.
To help road users, the bridge operators are providing two free shuttle bus services to take pedestrians, cyclists and mobility scooters across the bridge.
These include a minibus and trailer service and a scheduled bus service run in partnership with Plymouth Citybus. This will enable cyclists to remain with their bikes during the journey across the bridge.
It will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week and the minibus will run during the day seven days a week. Both will run from this evening and continue until the work is finished.
The minibus service will run ‘on-demand’ where customers will be able to contact minibus drivers via call-points located at both Pemros Road and North Road.
The Citybus service will run every 15 minutes between 6am and 9pm, and every 30 mins in the evenings and overnight between the Saltash and Plymouth sides of the crossing.
Details of the latest service information will be published on the Plymouth Citybus website.
Tamar Crossings said it will be reviewing both services throughout the work and will make adjustments if necessary.
It urges cyclists to use the buses and not cycle across the bridge.
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