legends · 4 min read ·
Span Seven
A bridge inspection finds a seventh span on a six-span viaduct, and a traffic count that never lets vehicles leave.
**Carrow Gorge Viaduct · Principal Inspection Report · Structure ID CG-0042**
**Inspection date:** 14 Sept · **Inspector:** L. Abbott (Chartered Engineer) · **Spans:** 6 · **Length:** 412 m
- **Span · Length (m) · Condition · Notes**
- 1 · 62 · Good
- 2 · 70 · Good · Minor spalling, east face
- 3 · 71 · Fair · Bearing corrosion, pier 3
- 4 · 70 · Good
- 5 · 68 · Good
- 6 · 71 · Good
*Total: 6 spans. Structure in service.*
· · ·
**Engineer's field notes (L. Abbott, 14 Sept)**
Walked the deck at 06:00. Traffic light. Fog in the gorge, the river visible only as a grey noise below.
At the far end, the parapet of span 6 ends in a concrete pier, as drawn. Beyond it, on the drawings, there is nothing but the cutting. But on the deck there is a seventh expansion joint, freshly sealed, with the tarmac laid up to it and then stopping. Beyond the joint, the road continues for about thirty metres, into the fog, and I could see the white centre line and the reflectors.
I didn't walk to the seventh span. I took photographs from the joint. The concrete on the far side is clean, with the same aggregate as the others, and a plaque set into the parapet, unreadable under weathering. The number on the plaque is 7.
· · ·
**Principal inspection report — addendum (L. Abbott, 15 Sept)**
Structure ID CG-0042 has been recorded as having six spans on the register. The deck, as inspected, has seven. The additional span has no record of construction, no design drawings, and no asset number.
I have recommended that span 7 be closed pending investigation. My recommendation was overruled by the county's Highways Asset team on the grounds that the span appears in the traffic model, and the traffic model shows it as open.
· · ·
**Traffic management log (Carrow Gorge, 16 Sept)**
Traffic counts over span 7 for the week: 412 vehicles per day. Average speed: 38 mph. No incidents recorded.
*Note: traffic counters at the start of span 7 record vehicles entering, and counters at the end of span 7 record none. Vehicles are not recorded as leaving the structure.*
· · ·
**Field notes (L. Abbott, 22 Sept, from the car)**
I drove across the viaduct at dawn to check the joint again. Drove from span 1 to span 6, then the joint, then span 7.
The road in span 7 is clean and white-lined, and quiet. There's a stone bollard at the far end, and a small roadside shrine beside it, with flowers that look a few days old. On the parapet, in marker pen, someone has written a list of names. The list runs back to the first span. The last name is mine.
When I reached the bollard, I stopped. I could hear something under the deck, a long way below, the sound of stone being tapped, slowly, in a steady rhythm, the way a mason would work on a foundation stone that won't seat properly.
· · ·
**Structure ID CG-0042 · Emergency inspection order (County Highways, 24 Sept)**
Span 7 to be closed to all traffic with immediate effect. Inspection of spans 1–6 to be carried out by independent engineers. Traffic to be diverted via the B-road.
*Reason for closure: unrecorded structure with unknown load capacity. Evidence of hand-laid stonework beneath the deck, with recent cracking consistent with a weight being carried, not supported.*
· · ·
**Independent engineer's report (Dr. M. Quaife, 2 Oct)**
Spans 1–6 are sound. Span 7 is a stone arch, built in the traditional manner, with no steel reinforcement and no visible load path into the piers. It is approximately four hundred years old. It was built to carry a single cart, and it has been carrying something else for a long time.
The stone is worn in a line down the centre of the arch, where feet have passed over it. The wear is recent, and there are fresh marks in it, small and close together, like the prints of a person walking very slowly, toward the far side, carrying a bundle.
· · ·
**Council notice (Carrow Gorge, 9 Oct)**
The B-road diversion has been extended. Span 7 remains closed.
Residents are asked to report any vehicle seen on the closed section. Residents are also asked not to walk to the end of the closed span. Several residents have reported being unable to find the way back.
· · ·
**Final inspection note (L. Abbott, 27 Oct, emergency)**
I went back to Carrow Gorge to take final readings on span 7. The gate was open. The fog was thick. I walked to the joint and stood there with my torch.
From the far end of the span, out of the white, I could see a figure approaching, on foot, slowly, carrying something in its arms. It was a woman in a long coat. The bundle in her arms was wrapped in a grey blanket. She stopped at the bollard and looked back at me, and then she looked down, at the place where the deck meets the stone.
She said, "Thank you. We'll finish the crossing now."
Span 7 has reopened. The traffic count shows 412 vehicles per day, and no vehicles leaving.