Bridge 80, Bennetts Bridge, Shropshire Union Canal

Our contractors remain on site at Bridge 80, Bennetts Bridge on the Shropshire Union Canal to complete the works to reinstate the towpath.

We anticipate completion early next week, and an update will be provided by Wednesday, 14 April.

Many weeks of hard work by our engineers and contractors have allowed us to make excellent progress on the repairs to the culvert at Bridge 80, Bennetts Bridge on the Shropshire Union Canal. The new culvert and bed repair have now been completed. We are pleased to confirm that the canal will reopen to navigation at 4pm today, 31 March.

Towpath diversions will remain in place as works to reinstate the towpath continue after Easter. An update will be provided on Friday, 9 April.

We would like to extend our thanks to our neighbours at Overwater Marina and Mill Lane for their patience and support throughout the project.

Our contractors continue to work hard on the culvert repair works at Bridge 80, Bennetts Bridge on the Shropshire Union Canal and works have progressed significantly.

The new pipe making the upstream and downstream connection is now in place, the trench has been backfilled, both offside and towpath side washwalls have been rebuilt and the canal bed repairs are nearing on completion.

The temporary access ramp is being removed over the weekend and further works to backfill the manhole will follow early next week. There is still some work to do to reinstate the towpath which will remain closed, however we are working hard to reopen the canal to navigation by Easter.

A further update will be provided Wednesday 31 March.

Fair weather and hard work by our contractors have allowed us to make good progress on the repair works to the culvert at Bridge 80, Bennetts Bridge on the Shropshire Union Canal.

The new pipe has been installed across the bed and into the towpath, and the trench has been backfilled. Most of the puddle clay has now been placed into the canal bed and stonemasons are on site repairing the washwalls. We have prepared the towpath by opening it up ready to construct a new access chamber which will connect to the existing downstream pipe.

Over the next week we will be working on completing the washwall and canal bed repairs, constructing the new access chamber within the towpath and making the downstream connection.

Our contractors continue to work weekends and, weather permitting, the outlook is positive for the canal to be reopened for Easter.

A further update will be provided Friday 26 March.

Our contractors are making good progress at Bridge 80, Bennetts Bridge on the Shropshire Union Canal and have now laid the first section of pipe from the inlet head wall to the offside washwall. This weekend, they will be working to remove the shoring from the first section and clear the bed ready to start excavating the next section of pipe across the canal.

While there is still a lot of work to do, we are still aiming to reopen the canal by Easter and will provide a further update by Friday 19 March.

This week, our contractors have been working to establish the line and level of the existing culvert, where it crosses under the approach wall foundations at Bridge 80, Bennetts Bridge on the Shropshire Union Canal.

We have now installed the temporary support necessary to allow us to keep the Grade II listed bridge approach walls intact whilst we install the shoring needed to excavate the new culvert safely.

A further update will be provided Friday 5 March.

Our contractors have now installed a temporary access into the canal bed at Bridge 80, Bennetts Bridge on the Shropshire Union Canal and we will be starting works to remove the damaged culvert early next week.

Whilst this section of the canal remains dewatered, our teams across the Shropshire Union Canal have been working together to manage the water levels and provide a sufficient flow past the affected areas.

A towpath diversion has also been established this week, details of which can be seen onsite.

We will endeavour to get this repair complete in time for Easter, subject to ongoing effects from Storm Christoph and other arising emergency works in the North West. We will have better certainty on the timescale in the next couple of weeks and a further update will be provided by Friday 19 February.  

Our engineers have prepared their design for the permanent repair works to the culvert by Bridge 80, Bennetts Bridge on the Shropshire Union Canal and our contractors have started to set up a temporary towpath diversion around the work site whilst continuing with site set up. We are planning to bring the machines needed to start building access into the canal bed early next week.

Whilst many factors need to be taken into consideration, including the ongoing effects from Storm Christoph and arising emergency works in the North West, we anticipate these works will take 8 to 10 weeks.

A further update will be provided by Friday 5 February.

Our contractors have continued with site set up this week at Bridge 80, Bennetts Bridge on the Shropshire Union Canal. Unfortunately, due to Storm Christoph, works onsite have been delayed, however our engineers have continued to work hard on developing the design for the repair works and we will resume the planned dewatering operations on Monday 25 January.

A further update will be provided Friday 29 January.  

CCTV inspections have been carried out onsite at Bridge 80, Bennetts Bridge on the Shropshire Union Canal and our engineers have found a section of the culvert by Bridge 80 has collapsed under the canal which requires replacement.

Unfortunately, the adverse weather conditions have impacted our progress today and we were forced to remove the stop planks to allow water through the site to prevent the canal from overtopping upstream.

We will continue to monitor the water levels over the next couple of days while our contractors continue with site set up. Our aim is to start work later this week, subject to weather conditions.

At present, the towpath remains open however this will remain under review as scope of the works progress.

A further update will be provided by Friday 22 January.

Navigation remains closed between Bridge 79, Moss Hall and Bridge 82, Coole Lane on the Shropshire Union Canal whilst we continue to work on the leak that appeared by Bridge 80, Bennetts Bridge.

Our teams are carrying out further inspections and an update will be provided tomorrow, Tuesday 19 January. 

In addition to the stop planks, a cofferdam has been placed on site at Bridge 80, Bennetts Bridge on the Shropshire Union Canal which has allowed our teams to stem the flow of the leak.

Our contractors will be back onsite tomorrow to continue works and a further update will be provided Monday 18 January.

Please be advised, following further inspection it is no longer a breach but a significant leak at Bridge 80, Bennetts Bridge, navigation remains closed between Bridge 79, Moss Hall and Bridge 82, Coole Lane on the Shropshire Union Canal.

Our engineer is onsite and stop planks are being installed at Bridge 80 to enable our team to apply clay to the affected area.

A further update will be provided this afternoon.

Please be advised, due to a breach at Bridge 80, Bennetts Bridge, navigation is closed between Bridge 79, Moss Hall and Bridge 82, Coole Lane on the Shropshire Union Canal.

Our engineer is onsite and stop planks are being installed at Bridge 80 to enable our team to apply clay to the affected area.

A further update will be provided this afternoon.