Work has started to install monitoring equipment at Mearns Bridge in Aberdeenshire to prevent it from being damaged.

Weigh in Motion and number plate recognition technology is currently being installed to protect the bridge from the impact of heavy vehicles using it in contravention of weight limits.

Inverbervie's Jubilee Bridge, which carries the A92 Stonehaven-Dundee road and is the main entrance to the town, has already had temporary barriers installed to protect the parapet.

The new equipment will identify vehicles crossing it in excess of the 44 tonne standard road weight limit.

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The system will remain in place for up to four years and will allow council bridges engineers to get better information on the structural damage inflicted on the crossing by unplanned use by vehicles carrying loads in excess of that permitted, to help safeguard its long-term integrity.

During the work the following daytime traffic restrictions will be in place:

• Bridgeview side road will be closed

• The A92 will be reduced to a single carriageway with traffic lights in operation

Aberdeenshire Council's Structures Manager, Donald MacPherson, said: "I think the public are starting to become more aware of the importance of our bridges to the local transportation network, particularly where they have been inconvenienced by closures linked to vehicular damage.

"Given recent publicity around damage to some of our historic bridges, including Gairnshiel, Spittal Burn and Abbeyton Bridges, this technology clearly may have the potential to be used in other locations, to identify vehicles contravening weight limits and causing damage."

(CD)