The 350ft Spey Viaduct near Garmouth, which forms part of the Speyside Way and National Cycle Network, collapsed this weekend after fast-moving water eroded its foundations.
Moray Council said the collapse appears to be caused by scour, a process in which river flow removes material from around bridge piers, after the river’s flow path changed and increased pressure on the structure.
The council confirmed there was no evidence of scour during the bridge’s last specialist inspection in 2023.
The 19th-century bridge has been popular with walkers and cyclists after the railway line closed in the 1960s. Cyclists will now face a nine-mile detour on local roads.
Councillor Macrae, who represents the local Fochabers and Lhanbryde ward, told BBC Scotland News that he felt a “state of shock” at what had happened.
The councillor, who is also chairman of Moray Council’s economic development and infrastructure services committee, said, “I think the important thing at the minute is to assess the damage that has been done, we need a plan for how we remove the two deck sections that are now in the river,” he said.
“And then look to investigate the rest of the structure of the bridge.
“I wouldn’t even like to guesstimate a figure to repair the bridge, let alone replace the bridge if necessary. In the current financial climate, it’s going to be nigh on impossible,” he said.
“I would hope national government, if anything, would step in here because it’s a project way beyond the means of the local authority and the constrained budgets we have at this time.”
Timmy Mallett, TV presenter and artist, said on Facebook, “I loved cycling across this fabulous historic iron girder bridge over the River Spey in Moray on my circumnavigation of Britain. It’s one of the highlights of the 5000-mile ride.
“Please restore this national treasure!”
Roddy Robertson, the chair of Garmouth and Kingston Community Association, said that there had been concerns over the state of the bridge for decades.
He said, “One of our fears was that it would get to this position that we are in today, that the bridge would become unsafe, it would be too expensive to fix, and we would lose that bridge.
“So it’s extremely frustrating to see the bridge lost when it possibly could have been saved. Who knows, we won’t know that, that’s hindsight now, I suppose.
“The community is absolutely devastated.”
> Scottish Government urged to spend more on public transport and less on cycling
Brian Hay said, “That bridge has been a shortcut between two communities for decades. Even before the rail line was closed.
“I can remember cycling over it as a young boy pre closure from Garmouth to Speybay and on to Portgordon. Just had to know when trains were due and wait until they passed before crossing the bridge. Saved several miles cycling.”
Moray Council, which has maintained the bridge since 1968, said on Monday evening: “Engineers have now assessed the Garmouth Viaduct and on initial inspection can confirm the collapse appears to be due to scour.
“It appears that over the last year, the river flow path has changed, which may have contributed to a change in impact on the piers.
“We’re in the process of instructing a specialist engineer to undertake a more detailed inspection and assessment, and hope that this can be progressed before Christmas or early in the new year.”
Options will be presented to councillors “as soon as practicably possible”.
The statement added: “We’re well aware of the strength of feeling in the local community, and further afield, for this bridge and how well used it is by walkers and cyclists.”
26 thoughts on “Why don’t cyclists use the bike path? Because it fell in the river: Historic cycling and walking bridge collapses as councillors say it will be “nigh on impossible” to fix”
Don’t let them get away with
Don’t let them get away with saying “we don’t have the funding”. Complain. Keep it in the public view. Every time that council spends money on a road, ask why not the bridge? Ask why they don’t view the health and wellbeing of people who used it as being more important than some potholes on a road somewhere.
The money exists, it just isn’t being spent properly.
Tragedy- my uninformed guess
Tragedy- my uninformed guess is that the last ‘inspection’ was just a quick glance and a cut-and-paste of the previous reports. There will be some intensive covering-up being arranged.
This is close by me and I can
This is close by me and I can tell the world now this will never be fixed .The councils up this way are taking grit bins away from residential areas in the winter time so there’s not a chance
Google is more optimistic –
Google is more optimistic – or is that then passing on a council “neither confirm nor deny”?
TBF I can imagine this is a) a *lot* of cash and b) it’s likely almost entirely “recreational”. That wouldn’t stop arguments that it brings in tourist money, but I suspect that’s a very hard sell.
Alas I fear your are right.
Pretty astonishing that the
Pretty astonishing that the Walk Wheel Cycle trust (Sustrans) have not made any statement about this bridge collapse yet. It’s a critical link on NCN1 and they need to be making a statement saying how vital the repair of this is funded. Lobbying for this should not just be down to Timmy Mallet
“……..the government said
“……..the government said the investment “demonstrates our clear commitment to making walking, wheeling and cycling safer and more accessible for everyone”.
So how about demonstrating that “clear commitment” by getting this bridge repaired? It would cost a lot less than the vast sums being wasted on increasing road capacity, like £363m for a new motorway junction. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c78n5j0zxx1o
I wouldn’t be surprised if the bridge was also a heritage asset, so should be preserved.
Uk – opportunistic re-use of
Uk – opportunistic re-use of old infra, done by a charity – with occasional (grudging?) maintenance picked up by the LA.
NL – despite there already being two additional river crossings with separate cycle infra the like of which would be the envy of the best in the UK, a couple of minor towns found around 1.5 million Euros for a dedicated cycling and walking bridge between those:
The Spey bridge is slightly longer, and is more remote, true…
As a side note on this ,Its
As a side note on this ,Its the Moray Council that maintain this and the CEO just gave herself a 23.5% payrise to 174k only a couple of months ago ,ill await her we dont have the money statement
https://www.grampianonline.co.uk/news/moray-council-ceo-s-salary-to-rise-by-23-5-under-new-rules-419465/
I speed read that as www
I speed read that as http://www.trampolineonline.co.uk
Not sure what that says about me…
Seriously, though, I feel that there will be a struggle to fund this repair, that will avoid a long detour, whilst road infrastructure will continue to get funding for unnecessary “updates” to roads that are perfectly adequate (The M23 junction 11 changes from a few years ago, for instance, which just added lanes and confusion)
belugabob wrote:
http://www.grandpianoonline.co.uk for me…
belugabob wrote:
That’s the most likely replacement option.
(Well, after “but there is a shared-use pavement / quiet road combo alongside the A96…” – which TBF exists! Plenty of places have literally nothing along a main route, not even a scrappy overgrown footway)…
Why are the Council surprised
Why are the Council surprised? They had a report done in 2014, at which point the opted not ro do a full survey, and scour was mentioned.
http://www.moray.gov.uk/minutes/data/DC20140930/Item%209-Garmouth%20Viaduct_Redacted.pdf
It’s a listed structure, and they are have a statutory duty to protect access.
You can bet that if motorists
You can bet that if motorists faced a 9 mile detour, there’d be plenty pressure and interest on reaching a solution.
They think bigger than that
They think bigger than that in Scotland https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=701745582920347 and that’s been going on since we moved up here more than 30 years ago!
Wouldn’t bother Big Jim…!
Wouldn’t bother Big Jim…!
https://www.facebook.com/BBCArchive/videos/1976-big-jims-boozy-bike-ride-to-braemar/2851763391661754/
The better question, why do
The better question, why do Lorrys and vans insist on using narrow country lanes, that were once a safe place for cyclisats, walker, and to take children to teach bikeing
Because “I have to drive”?
Because “I have to drive”? Because where we make it possible to drive, people will?
The specifics – as driving grew the roads (and lanes and streets) were increasingly used by and adapted for driving on. BUT that process was imperfect (we simply put tarmac down where before people walked, rode and drove livestock). And “people saw it was good” simply because driving became normal, and with more driving people didn’t want to be outside of cars on the roads…
More detail: because mass motoring motoring continues to increase. Because motoring is space- inefficient it doesn’t take a great increase to create significant delays at bottlenecks.
That incentivises people using what should not be “through routes” to avoid them, facilitated by sat nav. The reason that is possible is that point about the imperfect conversion of our road network – so those routes which shouldn’t be through-routes *are* permeable by motor traffic *. And people feel empowered to drive (fast) through them.
* Streets that people can cycle or walk through in either direction are useful – so applying “modal filtering” can fix that.
While you are probably right
While you are probably right for general traffic Chris, for the question of why do lorries and vans use narrow country lanes the answer is to get to houses/farms/businesses that are in the lanes, farms especially require large quantities of animal food/fertiliser to be brought in and crops to be taken out, there are also many small businesses in the countryside that need goods transported and for people who live there like myself, I buy goods online and expect them to be delivered to my door just like everyone else.
There are times when van and lorry drivers use country lanes as a shortcut but it is usually when the main road is closed by an incident and they are diverted that way, tourists might use them because they are scenic but commercial drivers are “on the clock” and it doesn’t work for them if they don’t have to use them.
I quite agree, but that was
I quite agree, but that was also the case back when.
Now obviously we use more stuff because progress. There has also been a growth (over decades) in people living in the country and working / doing activities in the city (or just having to go further for work, because we can).
… and thanks to those great US marketers there are some country dwellers driving “cars” the size of trucks (because they can) – who would arguably be adequately served (possibly even better) with a Ford Fiesta.
(The fact that these are also seen in urban areas just shows that fashion and “rank and status” can be entirely orthogonal to practicality or the “general good”).
chrisonabike wrote:
Maybe, but back when I was learning to ride a bike it was safe to do it in the town streets, I think they have become far worse over the years than the countryside has in comparison.
Guilty as charged, but then why would I stay in the town when I don’t have to, every place I lived in the town ended up with crap neighbors when the good ones moved on, plus the noise, the traffic, the drug dealing etc. There are problems living in the countryside as well but I prefer them to living in the town.
Again, guilty as charged, I buy a car based on the biggest load I need to fit in it, that is usually a bike although for a while I had a requirement to fit 6 people and a dog. A fiesta is never going to work for me and since I am buying second hand in a rural area it tends to be big SUVs although I must admit I do like the 4wd on the odd occasion we get snow on the hill, no more walking the last mile and a half home on an unlit country road!
Backladder wrote:
Oh, I agree. That would likely mostly be “more people” and probably still “more urban people” and “more of those people can find money to run a car”.
Well, you don’t have to deal, though I guess the money is tempting…
I often dream of living in the country but a couple of stints convinced me that I was neither sufficiently competent in enough areas nor energetic enough!
The older pickups (and indeed landrovers etc) are entirely practical (albeit now a major PITA unless you’re handy and into maintenance). As time has gone on the size and weight seen to have grown without adding utility (comfort and safety though I guess!)
I would have a practical vehicle which would be big enough for “just in case”… only I decided not to have a motor vehicle as I’d only end up driving it because it was there…
chrisonabike wrote:
Oh, I agree. That would likely mostly be “more people” and probably still “more urban people” and “more of those people can find money to run a car”.— Backladder
When the road I grew up on was built none of the houses had a driveway let alone a garage, it was all single gates and a flagstone path to the front door, by the time I was 10 everyone had a garage, driveway and at least one car, it happened relatively quickly!
Well, you don’t have to deal, though I guess the money is tempting… I often dream of living in the country but a couple of stints convinced me that I was neither sufficiently competent in enough areas nor energetic enough!— Backladder
Getting too old for dealing now
, I quite enjoy the self sufficiency aspect of living in the country, plus it can save you serious money, a first service of our new water supply was over £1000, I watched the guy do it and next time it will cost me less than £100 for parts!
The older pickups (and indeed landrovers etc) are entirely practical (albeit now a major PITA unless you’re handy and into maintenance). As time has gone on the size and weight seen to have grown without adding utility (comfort and safety though I guess!) I would have a practical vehicle which would be big enough for “just in case”… only I decided not to have a motor vehicle as I’d only end up driving it because it was there…— Backladder
I well remember the anger of the local farmers when they could no longer get single cab pickups because the manufacturers had switched to the double cab market which had a much smaller bed. Living in the country I do end up using it for most journeys but if the price of cargo bikes comes down significantly I could be tempted to N+1 again.
Meir info coming out now
Meir info coming out now .They have known for 3 years it was at risk and done nothing. Internal emails released
https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/6919144/moray-council-spey-viaduct-collapse/
Yep! They’re covering-up as
Yep! They’re covering-up as hard as they can, but the people who gave the warning are probably leaking the story
Negligence pure and simple.
Negligence pure and simple. Can you imagine a road bridge being effectively abandoned like this?
I’ve had inexpert further
I’ve had inexpert further thoughts about this: supposing there was absolutely nothing they could do except divert the Spey? This would be exceedingly expensive, possibly as much as building an entirely new bridge in a different place. So maybe the thought was: let’s see what happens, and if it collapses we may get central government money for a new one in the next 20 years? That would be pretty cynical and would put at risk anybody using the crossing at the time of any collapse. What we need is the 23 engineering report and independent expert commentary on it.