"Work to start on [Dovedale] foot bridge
"WORK is due to start next week to replace the footbridge [designed by the then young highway engineer, Errol Newman, and made from English Elm] next to the car park at DOVEDALE.
"The existng timber bridge dates back to 1966 and is starting to rot, say county councillors.
"A new bridge has been made to the same design as the old one. [Do my drawings still exist?]
"Work starts on Monday and will take around a week."
Pictures taken in spring 2009 by the original design engineer [me/EN]
The original construction consisted of two sections of Elm beams 42' long and 17" deep. All the boards and rails were cut from the same two trees. The ironwork was all forged locally. The timber cost £800 felled and sawn and the total cost was c.£1200 (pre-VAT). Hundreds of thousands of people have crossed this bridge during its life and the treads have been replaced many times. It replaced a bridge made from two Douglas Fir poles that was rotten in mid-stream.
A few adjustments and it would make a good heligoland so dont throw it away.
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