Aberdeenshire Council will begin the second phase of major refurbishment work on Inverbervie's Jubilee Bridge next week.

The bridge, which carries the A92 over the Bervie Water, is regularly monitored by the council and this has revealed the need for major repair and refurbishment.

The council's Routine Bridge Maintenance Programme identified corrosion of reinforcement within the concrete, which in turn has led to cracking, rust staining and spalling of sections.

Work on the seven-span reinforced concrete bridge will start on Monday, August 11 and is expected to take 55 weeks.

The A92 will be reduced to a single lane controlled by traffic lights for the duration of the works and motorists are warned that this could lead to slight delays.

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Traffic management is necessary to reduce loading on the bridge while repairs are carried out.

The bridge was designed in 1931 by W.A. Fairhurst whilst working at F.A. MacDonald and Partners, and was completed in 1935 to honour the Silver Jubilee of King George V.

Aberdeenshire Council engineers believe that if the corrosion is left unchecked it would eventually lead to a reduction of the strength of the bridge.

It would then fail to meet the required EU Legislation for full vehicle loading.

"The first phase of refurbishment was completed in autumn 2003 and consisted of repairing leaking expansion joints, repairing and waterproofing the concrete deck slab and re-instating the carriageway and footpaths," said Donald Macpherson, a Principal Engineer in bridge design for Aberdeenshire Council.

"Phase two will include concrete repair to the corrosion-affected bottom section of the main supporting beams, and the installation of an impressed current cathodic protection system.

"This will minimise the likelihood of future corrosion of the main reinforcement, thereby increasing the service life of the bridge."

The total cost for the design, repair and refurbishment works across phases one and two is approximately £2m.

(GK/JM)