Atkins Global Appointed as Bridge Consultants

Cheshire West and Chester Council have appointed Atkins Global as the engineering consultants for the new River Dee Bridge onto the Meadows. The initial brief of the consultants will be to prepare an options report on the siting of the new bridge.

In addition to the original location on land owned by Dee Water, two further locations are being explored.

An eight week public consultation will take place during the summer of 2010 in order to gather views regarding the proposed sites. The council will then take the decision regarding the site, enabling further preparation work to commence.

Keep an eye out for the consultation, and make your views known. Details of any public consultation events and submission forms will be published on this website as they become available.

Artist’s Impression of New River Dee Bridge

A new pedestrians’ and cyclists’ bridge over the River Dee onto the Meadows is one of the flagship projects of the Chester Cycle Demonstration Town initiative.                                        

                                                                              

The bridge would be built with Connect2 and Cycle Demonstration Town monies. However, devoting so much of the CDT budget to such a large engineering project raises the question of whether this is the best way to spend money to increase the number of cyclists in Chester. Some hold the view that the money would be better spent on a number of smaller projects, or on improvements to the Hoole Road railway bridge.

Nevertheless, a dramatic new river crossing would have publicity value and could serve act as a focal point and symbol of the CDT project. Option appraisals and costings are currently being carried out.