Building Bridges

Bridge 163, Oxford Canal, Banbury

Well, rebuilding this one, anyway.  This footbridge across the Oxford Canal connects the towpath and Spiceball Park, with an industrial area and edge of town shops such as Homebase, B&Q, Waitrose and Aldi.

The stoppage for repairs is scheduled for Monday 19 November, when work commenced, to Wednesday 7 December.  The footbridge remains in use.

A few more shots showing the type of work, the amount of underwater damage, and some of the debris to be removed; as usual including parts of shopping trolley and bicycle.

Just how much damage has occurred is apparent here.  I guess most of this is caused by movement of water as boats pass through, though some will be from bumps.

Once the bridge is reopened it will be possible for boats to move towards Cropredy, Fenny Compton and onward towards Napton-on-the-Hill, where another stoppage prevents navigation of the main flight of locks.  The stoppage is scheduled to end on Wednesday 21 December.

There are many boats in Banbury, partly because some of the Spiceball residential boats have moved downstream of Bridge 163, but there are still 14-day moorings available at Spiceball, Castle Quay and Tramway.

CRT mooring signpost at Spiceball, Banbury.