New bridge under contruction in Chorlton park after two year closure

Kenworthy Woods is set to have a new bridge open this summer over two years since it was first closed.

The Bailey bridge connects Kenworthy Woods and Chorlton water park and is located on a popular walking route as well as being by commuter to local businesses and schools. The diversion route is a mile longer than taking the original path over the bridge.

Local resident Lizzy Baine describes the closure of the bridge as negatively affecting the local community, saying “It kind of broke down the community if you like. We’d built a lot of friendships across, you know, in Kenworthy Woods and in Chorlton Water Park, all the dog walkers, right through COVID because it became quite a useful space during COVID. So, we made a lot of friends, and we certainly weren’t able to keep up with them because the bridge was broken, because the bridge wasn’t there.”

Bridge replacement

Construction of a new bridge was consistently delayed due to a variety of reasons. Internal communications from Manchester City Council show that by March there was no plan in place about how to go about replacing the bridge. By May 2024, the council’s capital programme service had been commissioned to deliver a replacement bridge and that it would take five to six months to complete.

In July 2024, the first concrete plans were made. This involved:

• A contractor was selected to conduct surveys into the area surrounding the bridge and assist in the creation of a design for a new bridge.
• The creation of a website to inform local residents of updates in construction.
• Creation of updated signage with more diversion routes for people to use.

The whole project was predicted to take 14 weeks, with completion taking place around the middle of October 2024.

From there however there were further delays. The original plans included starting construction in October, to be finished in November, but this never happened. Bad weather and flooding to the area necessitated surveys into the supports and the plans were pushed back.

Work then started on removing the original bridge. It was dismantled and removed from the site and surveys were taken to see how much work would be needed to be done to the supports for a new bridge.

Testing showed that more work needed to be done to the riverbanks to make the bridge supports more stable, which pushed the timeline for construction back eight weeks.

The estimated build time for the installation of the new bridge was 18 weeks, but delays from the Environment agency in completing surveys pushed the construction of the bridge back, with completion estimated in June to July this year.

This entire ordeal has left the community stranded without a main method of transportation over the River Mersey.

Lizzy said the local community was not “they’re not optimistic at all. They feel very forgotten and when I give them updates, they’re ‘like yeah it won’t happen’. They’re opposite to me, they’re not as optimistic as I am.”