The 25-year-old Weir footbridge, spans the River Wye close to Bakewell town centre. It's showing signs of corrosion on the steel structure and wear and tear to the pedestrian walkway.
During the essential repairs, the bridge will be closed for safety reasons. A signed pedestrian diversion route will be in place from local car parks and the town centre.
The repairs have been carefully timed after the school summer holidays, to minimise disruption and to give people time to remove their love locks from the bridge.
The repairs
The repairs will future-proof the bridge and include:
- treating any rust on the bridge structure
- repainting the bridge structure with a modern flexible paint, designed to expand and contract in hot and cold weather, helping to protect the bridge and maintain its appearance
- laying a new, long lasting, anti-slip, reinforced glass fibre walkway to replace the existing damaged surface
- attaching new tubular railings to replace the wires used by people to attach their love locks
The thicker diameter of the tubes will prevent locks being attached to the bridge in the future, making maintenance of the structure much easier and improving public safety by reducing the risk of any further grazes and cuts caused by protruding locks.
The love locks
To carry out the repairs to the bridge, we'll need to remove the love locks - a padlock attached to the bridge to commemorate special events, anniversaries or a loved one.
We recognise the locks hold a special place in the hearts of many local people and those who have visited Bakewell. We're providing several months' notice to give anyone who has previously placed a lock on the bridge, and who wishes to remove it, some time to do so.
As we don't own suitable land in the vicinity of the bridge, we talked to local organisations about alternative options to display the locks, but unfortunately no site was identified.
However, a request came from the Save the Love Locks Facebook group for them to collect the locks that remain on the Weir Bridge on 16 September 2024, when the works start, with a view to the locks being displayed at a nearby venue close to Bakewell.
So, when we start work, we intend to carefully remove any remaining love locks from the bridge, and give these to representatives of the Save the Love Locks community for safe keeping and display as soon as possible.
If you'd prefer to make your own arrangements for your love lock, or don't want it moved, you can remove your lock by Sunday 15 September 2024.
To improve pedestrian safety, the existing wires will be replaced with new, thicker, metal tubes. Over the years, a number of people have grazed their arms and legs on the locks as the bridge is narrow. In future, it will not be possible to attach locks to the bridge
Our contractor
The works will be carried out by our specialist contractor, under our close supervision.
Questions or queries
If you have any further questions or queries, please email highway.structures@derbyshire.gov.uk
You can register for email updates about the repairs to the Weir bridge.