Rochester Bridge Trust
Potassium Acetate Crystals for Gritting
Salt grit has been replaced with potassium acetate crystals on the deck. This is distributed using a hopper towed by an electric van (powered with 100% renewable energy). To enable this, council gritters stop spreading when they reach the bridge. The contractor uses MetDesk to receive their own weather alerts to know when they need to apply the crystals. Potassium...
Virtual Tours Bring Engineering into Public Homes
Community engagement is a major part of the Rochester Bridge Refurbishment Project, as they plan do everything possible to alert the public about disruptions and to inform and enthuse them about the engineering being carried out. This was meant to be a year of face-to-face engagement activities, with a programme of lectures and hard-hat tours for adults, supported by education...
Reusable Water Bottles for all Site Operatives
Everyone knows it’s important to stay hydrated, however it’s also important for the environment that we minimise our use of single use plastics, such as disposable water bottles. To balance these two needs on the Rochester Bridge Refurbishment Project, reusable branded plastic water bottles have been purchased for use by lead contractor FM Conway. The reusable water bottles were a...
Continuous Resurfacing to Minimise Future Works
No community likes the disruption of road works, but they are an inevitability if our infrastructure is to be safely maintained. To minimise disruption, the Rochester Bridge Trust carries out all its works one lane at a time on its bridge, preferably overnight but at the very least during off peak times. However, recently – for the first time in...
Communication is Key to Maintaining Goodwill
Community engagement is at the heart of the Rochester Bridge Refurbishment Project, so when the programme reached a point that was likely to cause significant disruption to the public, the team was keen to do whatever it could to mitigate issues. The task was the complete resurfacing of the New Bridge, which takes road traffic from Strood to Rochester, two...
Free Parking to Ease Disruption
For the first time in more than 15 years, the Rochester Bridge Trust has carried out works that required one of its bridges to be fully closed to road traffic. This is a big deal for road users. The first bridge at Rochester was built by the Romans on their main route from the Kent coast to London, and it...
Engaging Nursery Children on Bridges 
Children can never be too young to take an interest in civil engineering, which is why a group from a nursery school was invited for an explore and play session with the Rochester Bridge Trust . Eight pre-school aged youngsters from Castle View Nursery met an education officer and an engineer at the Strood end of the bridge, where their...
