Crumbling dual carriageway 'needs fixing now'

A crumbling dual carriageway in Surrey must be repaired immediately or will be unusable in "three to four" years, National Highways says.

The Dennis Interchange bridges in Guildford are undergoing major repairs, as water and salt from the road has rusted metalwork inside the supporting pillars below.

It means the A3 between the Dennis and Stoke interchanges will be closed southbound from 21:00 BST on Friday until 06:00 on Monday, and northbound from 21:00 on 17 July until 06:00 on 20 July.

Nick Axford, project manager at National Highways, said "We're doing a proactive repair now to bring everything up to full strength and make it last for years to come."

During a visit to the site, Axford told BBC Radio Surrey that when the steel inside the concrete rusts, it swells and "pops off" the concrete surrounding it.

"As well as work on the bridge, we're working on the top, on the A3, to try to make it as watertight as possible to prevent water coming through," he said.

It is these waterproofing and resurfacing works that make the weekend road closures necessary, he said.

The official diversion route takes road users through central Guildford, which is likely to cause delays.

"It is a length diversion, we know this is going to be difficult for people," Axford says.

He says traffic will not be diverted via the A25 because of a low bridge.

Axford says: "We expect local traffic will use other routes, [but] we can't advertise [the A25] as the official route because we can't allow HGVs to get stuck.

"There is no area for them to turn around if they get stuck, so we want to avoid that. The bridge carries a railway line."

The overall project is expected to cost £5m and is on-track to finish by the end of the year.

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