Taxpayers could foot the bill to make railway bridges in Essex safer despite most of them being privately owned.

No set arrangements have yet been made for how different organisations are going to fund safety measures needed on different bridges despite survey work being well under way.

Essex County Council is carrying out safety surveys of every road bridge which crosses railway tracks in Essex so far nearly half have been surveyed.

Already, extra investigations are needed on 17 of the 45 bridges looked at so far by safety experts.

The Evening Gazette launched its road and rail safety campaign Bridge The Gap on July 30, after two accidents in four weeks at the the Harwich Road bridge on the Ardleigh-Lawford border.

The county council will cover the tab for any safety improvements needed despite the fact it less than a quarter are publicly owned.

Some cash might come from Railtrack, which owns 76 of the 108 railway bridges in Essex, but at the present time that is merely an "understanding" and the details have not been sorted out.

Ron Williams, cabinet member for highways and transportation at Essex County Council, said: "Any work that needs to be done on road over rail bridges in Essex will be funded by Essex County Council through its Local Transport Plan. There is an understanding that Railtrack will jointly fund this type of work."

Published Wednesday August 14, 2002

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