HAVING been involved in bridge construction for more than 50 years I would like to congratulate everyone involved in building the new Abbey Bridge.
The design is ingenious and maintains the style of the original. Building any new bridge on such a busy traffic route is always challenging, but this has been well executed with excellent workmanship.
Sadly, whenever there are delays most assume it is the contractor's fault , but in practice most often that is not the case.
Delays by statutory undertakers in adapting their pipes and cables, over which the contractor has little or no control, is a more frequent cause of delay.
I am afraid that your comment that the original bridge was the first concrete bridge in the country (Bridge opening supplement, April 3) is incorrect.
Wedderburn Bridge at Highleadon, near Gloucester, built to a Swiss design and opened on Ocobter 14, 1908, was the first the first concrete bridge in the UK. It was rebuilt by my company Grimshaw Group from Cheltenham in 1987.
Peter Grimshaw
Childswickham
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