RESIDENTS and motorists face more misery following the disclosure that the railway bridge at Tonedale will be shut to traffic for another week due to extremely wet weather.

Network Rail ran into complications with repair work to the bridge recently but said it would re-open today (Friday).

The bridge was originally open to vehicles for the school run and rush hours, but after workmen found utility services ‘kinking away’ from where they were believed to be, it was closed for safety reasons.

It was understood at the time that the closure would enable the work to be done more quickly.

The bridge closure has led to many residents being ‘cut off from Wellington’.

The minor road from Rockwell Green to Tonedale is now the alternative until next week, but large lorries and emergency vehicles have found it difficult to get through without either stopping or reversing.

Wellington’s Deputy Mayor Mark Lithgow said: “I share everyone’s disappointment that the bridge isn’t reopening and that NR have not communicated with the community very well. But I am not sure there is much more we as councillors could have done.

“The good news is that the repairs should mean that the bridge will not need any more work for at least 25 years.”

He felt that NR had been a ‘victim of circumstances’.

The bridge closure until next week has meant the county council has put off its ‘extensive drainage works’ at Rockwell Green