This month's problem with the Twin Sails Bridge: it doesn't work in high winds

8:30am Thursday 14th February 2013 in News By Diana Henderson

This month's problem with the Twin Sails Bridge: it doesn't work in high winds This month's problem with the Twin Sails Bridge: it doesn't work in high winds

THE winter’s gale force winds have caused problems for Poole’s Twin Sails lifting bridge resulting in more work having to be carried out.

Fierce gusts of wind were not possible to replicate during the commissioning phase, say Borough of Poole engineers, and adjustments have had to be made to the lifting leaves, whose hydraulically-operated lifting sections rise through 88 degrees.

The £21.6million bridge across the Back Water Channel, which has had a troubled start with a catalogue of “teething troubles”, is nearing the end of its 12 month defect period, during which the contractor is responsible for putting right any problems.

Borough of Poole has a list of defects, constantly changing as new items are identified while others are sorted out, and there are still some outstanding issues to be resolved before the end of the defects period at the beginning of April.

However the number of problems causing closure of the bridge to road traffic and delays to marine craft, has lessened over the months. In the Twin Sails first six weeks of operation last spring, there were 15 occasions when it was closed to traffic.

But during strong winds on January 29 the leaves went out of synchronisation and the contractor had to make adjustments on site as the gusts continued.

“Significant progress has been made to rectify issues surrounding the Twin Sails Bridge,” said Julian McLaughlin, head of transportation services, Borough of Poole.

“Some further adjustments were made following issues that emerged during the recent period of strong wind, conditions that it was not possible to simulate during the commissioning phase.

“The defects period runs for 12 months and minor issues that have been identified during the initial period of maintenance and operation by council staff have been reported to the contractor for rectification,” he said.

The outstanding defects are:

  • Shock absorbers
  •  Movement joints
  • Minor hydraulic issues
  • Cycle lane lines
  • Adjustments/ refinements to the control system

The Echo has asked for a full list of the defects discovered over the last twelve months and details of what the problems are with each of the areas listed above.

Officer time spent on the second harbour bridge since it opened to traffic is not costed separately by the council and is considered part of the normal workload.

Comments(36)

Morrigan says...
8:43am Thu 14 Feb 13

This bridge is going to cost the local tax payers an awful lot of money once the transition period is up in April ....... and it doesn't take a genius to work that one out :o/

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Edna Cheese (Mrs) says...
8:50am Thu 14 Feb 13

Maybe they could replace it with a ferry in the summer before the heat causes it to jam up.

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goldstar500 says...
9:11am Thu 14 Feb 13

When the bridge was being designed,
wasn`t it tested in a wind tunnel or any other testing done "just in case"? Or was it ,that looks Ok, go for that one!!

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dorsetspeed says...
9:25am Thu 14 Feb 13

“Some further adjustments were made following issues that emerged during the recent period of strong wind, conditions that it was not possible to simulate during the commissioning phase."

Could we see a list of the environmental conditions that have not been "simulated", along with an assessment of effects, and remedies? Oh, silly me, for a moment I was thinking that Poole Council had managed this properly rather than making it all up as they went along.

Did no one think of the possibility that the leaves could become unsynchronised?

How about simulating wind load by attaching a chain and pulling with a truck? My kids could have worked that out when they were 6.

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awsokend says...
9:27am Thu 14 Feb 13

Put a toll charge on it, say a fiver
the Severn suspension bridge costs over £7 each way they close it on windy days
Upton and the Purbecks is far better then Wales.
I'm a Taffy

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awsokend says...
9:30am Thu 14 Feb 13

the sails are Out of Sink

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awsokend says...
9:49am Thu 14 Feb 13

How about simulating wind load by attaching a chain and pulling with a truck? My kids could have worked that out when they were 6

.
the elderly on here produce enough wind,it just needs harnessing.

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Baywolf says...
10:14am Thu 14 Feb 13

Oh my god! Seriously? You mean the architect who designed this expensive fancy bridge didnt take in to account for winds when the 'sails' were lifted? And only now in the winter do we find that this white elephant bought by the council paid for by tax payers money only went to line pockets of an architect and a megalomania council who have gone very quiet over this whole fiasco ..don't see the Council leader on tv saying how much it really costs or how much disruption this fiasco has cost, in real terms to use their jargon, and Poole isn't open for business they are closing down..unlike the bridge that dosnt.

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Martinesque says...
10:27am Thu 14 Feb 13

I do appreciate that blaming Councils for everything is very much the Echo comments way - but the fault lies with the contractor, they designed and built the bridge.

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dorsetspeed says...
10:50am Thu 14 Feb 13

Martinesque wrote:
I do appreciate that blaming Councils for everything is very much the Echo comments way - but the fault lies with the contractor, they designed and built the bridge.
That depends on the specification. Any kind of structure obviously needs wind ratings. Again, a child of 6 could have spotted that a wind specification was missing (operation, survival). And you don't sign off the delivery until the specs are checked, or at least, properly accounted for. It's incompetence of alarming magnitude of all involved. Like tarmac falling off, traffic lights that keep holding up traffic on the old bridge when the new one is broke, a dangerous and inefficient connecting road system, etc

Councillors are responsible for efficient and safe roads projects, if they don't manage contractors properly, they have failed. Poole Council has a list of appalling failures such as the Fleetsbridge (and other) traffic lights, traffic "calming", absurd speed limit reductions, etc. but worst of all, they won't learn, they will just cover up and ignore complaints and carry on making more.

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static kill says...
11:23am Thu 14 Feb 13

Well at least it doesn't have any speed cameras on it.

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hadvar says...
11:38am Thu 14 Feb 13

No one could have predicted that sail shaped objects catch the wind. Give the designers a break.

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oldgiraffe says...
12:43pm Thu 14 Feb 13

hadvar wrote:
No one could have predicted that sail shaped objects catch the wind. Give the designers a break.
The old bridge has chinese sail shape. No problem there with wind!

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hadvar says...
1:11pm Thu 14 Feb 13

oldgiraffe wrote:
hadvar wrote:
No one could have predicted that sail shaped objects catch the wind. Give the designers a break.
The old bridge has chinese sail shape. No problem there with wind!
Meh. I think the old bridge is 'bridge shaped' which, logically speaking, is a fairly natural shape for a bridge to be. But, as I say, no one could possibly have predicted that designing something to be the same shape as things used for millennia to catch the wind to propel boats, might actually catch the wind a bit when reproduced in bridge form.

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Melanie.Read12 says...
1:25pm Thu 14 Feb 13

hadvar wrote:
oldgiraffe wrote:
hadvar wrote:
No one could have predicted that sail shaped objects catch the wind. Give the designers a break.
The old bridge has chinese sail shape. No problem there with wind!
Meh. I think the old bridge is 'bridge shaped' which, logically speaking, is a fairly natural shape for a bridge to be. But, as I say, no one could possibly have predicted that designing something to be the same shape as things used for millennia to catch the wind to propel boats, might actually catch the wind a bit when reproduced in bridge form.
Best response for ages- I nearly choked laughing at that one!

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Baywolf says...
2:22pm Thu 14 Feb 13

Anyone designing a 'sail' like structural design must surely test to extreme limits due to the nature of the design, just making it and putting it up is not a clever idea. The structures in Dubai that are sail like in nature were built to weather extreme conditions..even the bridges. No this bridge was put up as a show off piece without thought to design, practicalities and now is an embarrassment to both town and its inept council.

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susi.m says...
3:25pm Thu 14 Feb 13

The bottom line is that the Councillors wanted something flashy not something simple and fit for purpose.

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Glashen says...
3:46pm Thu 14 Feb 13

Baywolf wrote:
Anyone designing a 'sail' like structural design must surely test to extreme limits due to the nature of the design, just making it and putting it up is not a clever idea. The structures in Dubai that are sail like in nature were built to weather extreme conditions..even the bridges. No this bridge was put up as a show off piece without thought to design, practicalities and now is an embarrassment to both town and its inept council.
I wonder if Dubai has a freedom of information act. I suspect if we hadn't we wouldn't have heard about half of the problems with this bridge.

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djkent says...
4:31pm Thu 14 Feb 13

waste of money in the first place why didnt the torys spend the money on hamworthy its full of borded up places and trouble as for a toll bridge i cant imagine many people on turlin moor paying lol

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guisselle says...
5:32pm Thu 14 Feb 13

Mmm sweeping statements are carte
blanche,here a lot of folk actually buy
houses on the Moor could be worse
places.

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nospinnaker says...
5:35pm Thu 14 Feb 13

I must agree that it's a bit far fetched to assume amyone at the Council or the Architects would have automatically associated the word 'wind' with the word 'sail'.

Can't wait for the Council to publish its budget for this next financial year. Let's hope that officers' time spent on the bridge is charged to the bridge. We really deserve to know how much this thing is going to cost us.

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GAHmusic says...
5:37pm Thu 14 Feb 13

Edna Cheese (Mrs) wrote:
Maybe they could replace it with a ferry in the summer before the heat causes it to jam up.
Warm summer Edna? I do see some tall tales on here sometimes :-)

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ilovepoole says...
5:43pm Thu 14 Feb 13

djkent wrote:
waste of money in the first place why didnt the torys spend the money on hamworthy its full of borded up places and trouble as for a toll bridge i cant imagine many people on turlin moor paying lol
YAWN..........

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guisselle says...
5:44pm Thu 14 Feb 13

I would love to see a hovercraft service
that would be such fun!

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fossilmole says...
8:21pm Thu 14 Feb 13

Oh, come on. How many of us warned this 'icon' would turn out to be a massive drain on Poole's resources. Hands up all those Councillors who bent over backwwards to assure us this would be an asset to Poole.

Turning into an ****-pit isn't it?

Councillors should be ready to 'get their piggy banks out' to compensate the taxpayers for the stupid decision to have this rubbish bit of engineering.

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Roband65 says...
9:22pm Thu 14 Feb 13

the bridge looks like something you could make out of a meccano set it just doesnt look like its been built to last !

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benjamin says...
9:51pm Thu 14 Feb 13

static kill wrote:
Well at least it doesn't have any speed cameras on it.
Yet.

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BIGTONE says...
10:00pm Thu 14 Feb 13

It don't work but we have your big fat taxpayers cheque cleared.

Bye Bye Poole Council.
We hope you get it sorted.

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BIGTONE says...
10:01pm Thu 14 Feb 13

It don't work but we have your big fat taxpayers cheque cleared.

Bye Bye Poole Council.
We hope you get it sorted.

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BIGTONE says...
10:02pm Thu 14 Feb 13

fossilmole wrote:
Oh, come on. How many of us warned this 'icon' would turn out to be a massive drain on Poole's resources. Hands up all those Councillors who bent over backwwards to assure us this would be an asset to Poole.

Turning into an ****-pit isn't it?

Councillors should be ready to 'get their piggy banks out' to compensate the taxpayers for the stupid decision to have this rubbish bit of engineering.
They didn't bend over backwards.
They bent over forwards.......

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EGHH says...
6:57am Fri 15 Feb 13

I had heard about this problem last year but thought the engineer who told me was joking. Obviously not. This bridge shows exactly the incompetence of Poole Council. "Oh it looks really fancy, lets build it" They didn't ask independent structural engineers if it was viable though did they. You need engineers to to design bridges not architects!

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Tango Charlie says...
7:40am Fri 15 Feb 13

Echo. Look back on the old echo forum and see what was said by a former army engineer. Length and a small pivotal area? Not good

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The Liberal says...
8:04am Fri 15 Feb 13

Can anyone tell us the speed of these gusts of wind so we could compare the bridge's performance with others? For instance, the Forth road bridge only closes completely to traffic if gusts are greater than 80mph.

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Hobad1 says...
8:13pm Fri 15 Feb 13

EGHH wrote:
I had heard about this problem last year but thought the engineer who told me was joking. Obviously not. This bridge shows exactly the incompetence of Poole Council. "Oh it looks really fancy, lets build it" They didn't ask independent structural engineers if it was viable though did they. You need engineers to to design bridges not architects!
It's not the incompetence of Poole Council, it's the incompetence of Poole's Councillors. Please don't confuse the two.

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hamworthygirl says...
6:57am Sat 16 Feb 13

susi.m wrote:
The bottom line is that the Councillors wanted something flashy not something simple and fit for purpose.
You have hit the nail on the head, if the people of Poole had been listened to then we wouldn't have this problem. Even im getting bored with saying this but WE WANTED A FIXED BRIDGE.

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hamworthygirl says...
6:58am Sat 16 Feb 13

Martinesque wrote:
I do appreciate that blaming Councils for everything is very much the Echo comments way - but the fault lies with the contractor, they designed and built the bridge.
But the council decided to use the design no one twisted their arm!!

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