THE re-opening date for Poole Bridge has been pushed back for the FOURTH time since the project began.

Borough of Poole (BOP) has announced the bridge revamp should be completed towards the end of November - with the bridge opening to traffic around that time.

Also, the initial £4.7m cost of the renovation - part of a wider £23.3m investment by the Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (DLEP) - is expected to rise, as the project has been hampered by a number of unforeseen problems since work started in September last year.

BOP engineering manager John Rice said: “We have pushed the date back to November 24. That is not a guaranteed opening date, there are challenges ahead of us. If we get bad weather, it can blow us off course. But the really key issue, we need to emphasise, is we are out of the water - we are above ground level.

“The real high risk issues are now done, so November 24 is a realistic date. With a bit of luck and a fair wind we might gain a few days, with a bit of bad luck we might lose a few.”

The crossing, which closed to the public last September, has already had its reopening date pushed back three times.

Progress has been impeded by a number of issues, including abandoned and live utility cables on site, the remains of previous bridges and a significant section of buried quay wall. Also, additional steelwork repairs only became apparent as the approach spans were removed, resulting in this part of the scheme taking much longer than anticipated.

The latest issues involved problems with getting in the anchors, which hold back the abutments under each side of the structure.

When completed the bridge will have wider approach spans, safer barriers and wider pedestrian and cycleways on both sides.

On the rising price tag, Mr Rice told the Echo: “To be fair it has cost more, the primary funders DLEP are aware of this. There is a revised budget we are working to.

“At the moment we’re working with the contractor on assessing additional costs involved. Some of them are agreed, some are not, so it would be wrong to give a figure at this stage.”

Until the bridge reopens, BOP has extended the temporary bus service arrangements for lower Hamworthy with an enhanced 152 service operating seven days a week.

BOP says contractors will work weekends and extended hours to minimise the delay.

Dorset Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Ian Girling said: "Clearly having the bridge out of action must be a huge inconvenience for both the public and, of course, the business community - particularly for both the businesses and people that work and do business in the area.

"I am aware there have been unforseen complications that have led to these delays and these are being addressed, but clearly everyone wil be very pleased to see the lifting bridge back in operation."

Mr Rice said: “The towers are locally listed - we wanted to build some new bits with it and make it all work. What we didn’t want to do is replicate what we’ve got on the Twin Sails. That would just jar in terms of the style. We wanted to redesign the elements to be replaced in a way that would work sympathetically with the old structure.”

Poole Bridge: a timeline

THE crossing closed to the public in September last year as part of a £4.7 million overhaul. At this time borough engineers said the project would be completed, nine months later, in June 2017.

In February, Borough of Poole announced the overhaul had fallen behind schedule, due, in part, to unrecorded cables and obstructions from previous bridges at the site. Then at the end of April, officials announced the reopening of the bridge had been pushed back to “later in the summer.”

In August, the project end date was pushed back a third time, with tough working conditions on the Hamworthy side cited as reasons why. The revised opening date was given as the end of October.

This week borough engineers gave what they hope will be the finish date of November 24, give or take a day or two.