Gipsy Patch Lane Bridge is a bridge in

Little Stoke Little Stoke is a village in the parish of Stoke Gifford, situated in South Gloucestershire, England. It is surrounded by Patchway, Stoke Gifford and Bradley Stoke. Home to Patchway railway station, a minor stop on the railway network, the Rail ...

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, England, built in 2020.

Background

The

Bristol and South Wales Union Railway The Bristol and South Wales Union Railway was built to connect Bristol, England, with south Wales. The route involved a ferry crossing of the River Severn but was considerably shorter than the alternative route through Gloucester. The ferry w ...

, opened in 1863, was built through the

Patchway Patchway is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, situated north-north west of central Bristol. The town has become an overflow settlement for Bristol and is contiguous with Bristol's urban area, along with the nearby towns ...

area north of the city. About a quarter of a mile south of Patchway station, Gipsy Patch Lane (now the B4047) passed through the railway embankment via an arched underbridge built in dark brick. The bridge had a height clearance of and was wide enough to accommodate one traffic lane in each direction and a pavement on one side. It was replaced with a wider concrete bridge in 2020, as part of the city-wide

MetroBus Metrobus may refer to: Transport services Bus Rapid Transit *MetroBus (Bristol), a bus rapid transit system in Bristol, England, United Kingdom *Metrobus (Buenos Aires), a bus rapid transit system in Buenos Aires, Argentina *Metrobus (Istanbul), a ...

project. At wide, the new bridge is approximately wider than the original bridge and thus can accommodate in each direction a traffic lane, a

bus lane A bus lane or bus-only lane is a lane restricted to buses, generally to speed up public transport that would be otherwise held up by traffic congestion. The related term busway describes a roadway completely dedicated for use by buses, whilst ...

and a pavement. To allow the use of

double-decker buses A double-decker bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. Double-deckers are used primarily for commuter transport, but Open top bus, open-top models are used as sightseeing buses for tourists, and there are Coach (bus), coaches too for long-d ...

on the new MetroBus m4 route, the road was lowered by .

Reconstruction

Gipsy Patch Lane closed in March 2020 to allow the bridge to be replaced. The bridge was originally planned to be installed over Easter but work was delayed by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Following news of the delay, a route for pedestrians and cyclists under the bridge was restored in April 2020. The new 4,260-tonne bridge was constructed on site near the original bridge. The original bridge was demolished on 27 October 2020. The operation to move the new bridge into place began the following day. However, the transporters carrying it became stuck in mud short of the desired location. The bridge was eventually moved into position on 14 November and the railway was reopened on 23 November, 16 days later than planned. In November 2021, Gipsy Patch Lane reopened to westbound traffic. The road reopened to traffic in both directions on 24 April 2022.{{Cite web , last=Donoghue , first=J. J. , date=2022-06-16 , title=Key Bristol road faces more closures as work continues , url=https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/gipsy-patch-lane-close-during-7214229 , access-date=2022-12-18 , website=BristolLive , language=en

References

Railway bridges in Gloucestershire Bridges in Bristol