Essential maintenance work on Grosvenor Bridge in Tunbridge Wells will begin in January.

Kent County Council said the reconstruction of concrete piers which support the bridge and the road across it will begin on January 3.

The road is expected to be closed until autumn 2017 and will remain closed to vehicles until that time.

The work was due to have begun in June 2016 but can now progress after other preparatory work was completed by an outside party.

Grosvenor Bridge, Tunbridge Wells. Pic: Google Streetview

Pedestrian access will be maintained throughout the works.

The bridge connects Upper Grosvenor Road with Quarry Road and crosses the London to Hastings railway line.

The vast majority of the works will take place below the bridge, to the side of the railway tracks.

KCC Cabinet member for Environment and Transport Matthew Balfour said: “These works are vital to ensuring the structural integrity of the bridge and the safety of the road.

“Grosvenor Bridge is supported by two abutments and four piers – two concrete piers and two brick piers – and over the years the condition of the concrete piers has deteriorated and they have now reached the end of their serviceable life.

Cllr Matthew Balfour

“To ensure that the bridge remains safe and able to accommodate the amount of traffic that uses it, the two concrete piers need to be replaced.

“I appreciate this will cause disruption and for that we have apologised. It has always been our intention to avoid the busy Christmas period and that is why the works will begin in January.”

At the start of the works, temporary supports will be put in place to support the bridge until the new piers are fully built.

These supports are not strong enough to support the traffic overhead but pedestrians will be able to continue using the bridge safely.

Once the bridge is fully supported, the piers will be demolished and new piers will then be constructed.

When it is safe to do so, contractors will work on both piers at the same time to minimise the duration of the works.

A proportion of the work will need to be carried out at night. This is because of the need to work on the railway line and it cannot be done when the train services are operational.

KCC has been working closely with Network Rail to arrange the times and dates to ensure that train services are not affected by the works.

When working at night, every effort will be made to keep the noise and disruption to local residents to a minimum.

KCC is also investigating the possibility of resurfacing the road on the bridge and, subject to agreement, will be undertaken prior to the bridge being re-opened.

This will not require the road closure to be extended.

During the works traffic will be diverted from Grosvenor Bridge onto Upper Grosvenor Road, Grosvenor Road, Victoria Road, Camden Road and finally on to Quarry Road.

The diversion route will be clearly sign posted to avoid any confusion.

Questions during or after the works can be made in two ways:

Call 03000 418181 and speak to a member of the contact point team. If they are unable to help they will log an enquiry and arrange for a member of the bridges, tunnels and structures team to contact you directly.

You can also log an enquiry online using the Fault Reporting Tool: https://www.kent.gov.uk/roads-and-travel/report-a-problem