Renfrewshire Council is embarking on a £1.5m rebuild of Paisley's Abbey Bridge. Diversions are in place and access to businesses on Bridge Street from Orchard Street and Lonend has been kept open.

Renfrewshire House, Paisley Abbey and the Town Hall can be accessed from Cotton Street.

The project will see anti-corrosion paint being applied to the steel carriageway girders and the dilapidated cast iron parapet and fascia panels, both footways and the bridge deck waterproofing and movement joints being replaced.

The first stage of the massive project saw two prototype parapet panels being cast for use in crash tests designed to simulate a vehicle hitting the railings. The data from these tests is being used to confirm the results from a mathematical model of the prototypes, created using the latest structural analysis software. Once the tests are complete, a full set of new parapets and facia panels will be cast and installed.

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The original facia panels, weighing a total of 13 tonnes, were removed in June 2008 for safety reasons.

The Abbey Bridge parapets lack the movement joints built into modern structures to allow them to expand and contract in changing temperatures. This means the original cast iron components have buckled and fractured over the years. The way the fascia panels were attached to the supporting girders also meant that it was impossible to maintain the outer girders and this has contributed to the deterioration.

The Abbey Bridge was built by Hanna, Donald and Wilson in 1879 and was widened in 1933. The original ironwork was made by the Abercorn Foundry in Paisley.

In 1993 a survey of the bridge found the 1933 era carriageways could cope with 40 tonne vehicles but the footways, dating from 1879, could only take the weight of pedestrians. Bollards were installed as a temporary measure to protect the footways from vehicles accidentally mounting the pavement.

(GK/JM)