A BUSY Hampshire road will be closed next week to enable engineers to carry out safety checks on a Victorian railway bridge.
Hampshire County Council and Network Rail are worried about the condition of the 120-year-old bridge, which carries Sway Road in Brockenhurst over the Bournemouth to Waterloo line.
Buses and other vehicles will be diverted for five days starting on Monday while county council engineers examine every inch of the structure.
Residents are being warned that the bridge is almost certain to need major repairs, raising the prospect of more disruption in the future.
Sway Road – part of the main Brockenhurst to Sway route – is used by thousands of drivers every day.
Last year the county council expressed concern about the weight of vehicles crossing the bridge and reduced the road to a single lane, with traffic controlled by lights.
Highways bosses and rail officials agreed that a structural survey should be carried out.
The safety checks will be done during next week’s half-term holiday in a bid to reduce the impact of the road closure.
A county council spokesman said: “Traffic will be diverted along the A337 during the closure, which means there will be no bus service serving Brookley Road or Sway Road.”
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