More Problems For Poole's Twin Sails Bridge

The multi-million pound bridge has been forced to close on 15 seperate occassions since it first opened to traffic in April 2012.

Borough of Poole has confirmed they've had a few issues with it since the official opening - which was itself delayed by several weeks due to it not working properly and problems with the tarmac.

In a statement, Jim Bright, Strategic Director, Borough of Poole said:

"The Twin Sails Bridge is a large and complex engineering project and we always anticipated that there would be some issues during this initial period of the bridge's operation. Since opening to traffic on 4 April, bridge lifts have been delayed or cancelled on 15 occasions, mostly outside of peak hours. This represents only about two per cent of all scheduled lifts and, on the whole, any disruption to traffic has been on a minor scale.

"Both Hochtief (UK) Construction Ltd and Ramboll are world-class organisations and they are making good progress to resolve the remaining issues as soon as possible. While this work continues, the Twin Sails Bridge is still operating in tandem with Poole Bridge, ensuring that at least one bridge is open to traffic for the vast majority of the time.

"In the long term, the Twin Sails Bridge will help deliver wider economic benefits to the town including reliable journeys between Poole and Hamworthy and potentially attracting more than £600 million of inward investment to Poole. The council is currently in discussion with developers about proposals on most of the major regeneration sites and several planning applications are expected to be considered over the next two years to provide new homes and jobs for the town."