The closure of the B5026 near Norton Bridge is expected to remain in place until Friday 13 February, according to an update issued by Network Rail.
The road was closed under emergency circumstances in November, with limited information initially available to drivers and nearby residents. One local resident contacted Network Rail directly to ask for clarification on the re-openning and has received a detailed response from the company’s community relations team.
The resident has shared that response with A Little Bit of Stone. It is published below in full.
“Good afternoon
After further investigation we have identified that it was actually Network Rail working in this area.
I’m sorry for the inconvenience you have been caused while this road has been closed. Following an incident which resulted in damage to the structure, this bridge had to be closed under emergency circumstances, so we could not provide advanced notice of the work.
I have spoken to the team working in the area and they have confirmed that the road will reopen on 13 February. We have asked our contractor to update the signage on the bridge with this date so that more users are aware of this.
Although you may not always see staff on site, we are working to ensure that the bridge is safe for all users before reopening it. This includes a planned railway closure so we can remove the emergency scaffolding. As this is quite a busy section of the railway, we have had to plan the closure to minimise disruption across the network.
Thanks for your patience and understanding while this work has been carried out.
Kind regards
Anisha
Community Relations Executive”
The closure has affected traffic between Stone, Norton Bridge, Eccleshall and surrounding villages, with diversions remaining in place. Network Rail has said signage at the bridge will be updated to show the expected reopening date.
We will continue to share further updates if any additional information is provided or if timescales change – thanks to Bob who submitted this to us.
2 comments
Stephen Pollock
The road surface has been in a terrible state for many years, coming from Eccleshall to Stone there were always several deep holes driving off the roundabout. I remember trying to avoid the craters as long as 10 years ago. I can’t remember this bit of the road ever being repaired properly. I hope they will finally repair the road after all these years.
Sally Bell
I really hope they have taken this opportunity to repair the road surface .