WORK on the demolition of the current Bencoolen Bridge, Bude and reconstruction of a replacement will commence early in the new year.

The bridge is in poor condition due to a number of factors. These include being regularly flooded with sea water; subject to coastal waves; the materials not being as advanced when it was built as they are now and the build quality may not have been as good as expected.

The condition of the bridge has deteriorated to such an extent that whole life cost analysis has concluded that it is more cost effective to replace the bridge, instead of carrying out on-going maintenance repairs that would be ineffective in the long term.

Following the public exhibition regarding the 'Bencoolen Bridge Replacement Scheme' on September 26 at The Parkhouse Centre there has been considerable interest in the scheme by the general public.

The exhibition generated a number of comments from the general public regarding the appearance of the proposed scheme. The majority of these objections referred to the visual aspect of the proposed cable stay structure; in particular the height, size, shape and colour of the columns.

For the full report, and a round up of the area news and sport, please see this week's edition of the 'Post'.