Bridge - laugh or cry?!

[Sooty]

I received an email today from the Highways Agency with their plan to make our bridge over the bypass, with the 1m high parapets, safer for equestrian use. They are proposing a painted 'horse lane' down the middle, with traffic signs giving horses priority on the bridge. *bangs head on desk* It's not the (tiny amount of) traffic on the bridge that is the problem, it's the combination of busy dual carriageway underneath, a 30' drop and 1m barriers! Is it just me that thinks that is not necessarily going to solve the problem? Am I being unreasonable?

 

[the watcher]

Have you suggested a corporate fun day to the planners..recruit a riding centre near one of these bridges that already exist with the low parapets (I can show you some) and then invite said planners to ride over it. they clearly aren't getting it!

 

[Nic]

OFFS

How thick do people get!

 

[harvgj19]

What a bunch of morons.

I like the suggestion of making them ride over there at rush hour though!

 

[BBs]

*joins sooty in head banging*

What makes them think that a horse will keep to the painted horse lane down the middle of the road?
If said horse is spooked by traffic underneath its hardly gonna keep to the designated area now is it ARGHHHHHH!!!

What are they? THICK!!!

Give me strength!

Feel for you Sooty I really do.

 

[SSM]

Okay so they paint a pretty picture of a horse down the middle of the bridge to make a horse lane - most horses I know hate road markings and therefore will not go near them - complete waste of time!!

 

[Tempi]

a horse lane down the middle? surely thats a bit dangerous anyways?! i feel for you as you are doing so much for this and getting so little back from them...........keep at it, they might understand eventually

 

[Sooty]

Ah, so it's not just me then. They have even sent me a picture. It is pitiful. This has been all the way to the Transport Minister, and this is the best they can come up with. I could weep.

 

[AmyMay]

Oh Sooty, how frustrating. I've followed this with interest, as we have a similar bridge by us.

The amount of money they have spent on avoiding your request could have have funded about 20 additional height barriers.

Madness................

 

[not_with_it]

Think you are going to have to be extremley blunt with them Sooty. Explain that horses are living animals and they dont always go where you want them to.

It is so easy for a horse to sppok, they dont understand that if they get too close to the edge they fall off and die.

 

[Tia]

No you are not being unreasonable - you are just dealing with idiots I'm afraid!

 

[Sooty]

Oh believe me, I have explained this until I am blue in the face. I have also pointed out that it would not only be a potential horse and/or rider fatailty, but carnage on the road below. Sadly it is all falling on deaf ears. There is an attitude that horses should not be on the road if you cannot control them, and pointing out that a horse is a flight animal and can be spooked has them sticking their fingers in their ears and going 'lalalala not listening'. I have a mountain of paperwork pointing out every angle of this issue in letters to many people at all levels, but I just keep running into a brick wall.

 

[suestowford]

It sounds like a remarkably complicated way of 'solving' the problem that will do nothing to help at all. You are not being unreasonable at all. Why can't they just raise the parapets?

 

[Sooty]

Well quite. It should never have got as far as the Transport Minister, and having done so I expected something better than a bloody white line! It would surely have cost less to just build the damn things when first requested.

 

[Vicki1986]

perhaps write back with a picture of horse showjumping well over 1m and draw them a diagram of how high horses can jump?!

we ride over a motorway bridge and the barriers are about 2ft6. my 13.1 pony can jump that from a stand still! bit scarey actualy when you think of it like that

well done for your campaigning. far too many people [including me a lot of the time] moan about things but dont do anything constructive to change it

 

[Sooty]

Ah, why indeed. It is a matter of cost, and now the bypass is open and would have to be closed for the work to be done, the cost could potentially run into hundreds of thousands of £s. This is one reason I was working so hard to try and get this altered before the road opened, and one reason the HA was working so hard to get the road opened before the parapets had to be changed!

 

[Sooty]

Good grief!

That sounds dodgy - sooner you than me.

 

[meandmyself]

Sound brutal, but I wonder if you could find pics/vid etc of an accident on a bridge involvig horses? It might be the shock that they need to raise the sides.

 

[SusieJane]

Bit extreme... but hey!

Why don't you buy a couple of sides of beef, then just as rush hour starts heave them over the bridge onto the road below.
Then take photos of the chaos that ensues, send it to the planners, and maybe you'll get a re-think.

did warn it was extreme

 

[burtie]

Well I found that hilarious until I realised that you were being serious

What planet are these people living on, sometimes you do wonder...

 

[sleepingdragon10]

*is stunned*

WTF is the only thing I can say to that right now.

 

[Patches]

There was a complaint about a bridge close to us (I cross the motorway twice out riding) as it's narrow and the parapets are only 1m high. A crash barrier was installed inside the parapet. Hmm....bucking horse will clear the 1m, with or without the crash barrier.

I've always been surprised how little our horses are bothered by the bridges, either passing over, or under (one underpass is VERY narrow and dark) the M6. However, can't deny it's a bit un-nerving.

They're the same everywhere though aren't they? We have one over a disused railway line that I particularly dislike. I guess they're concerned about it setting a precedent. Clearly don't want to spend the money.

Shame. What a blow after all your compaigning.

 

[Sooty]

Ah well no, they are not the same everywhere. One of the bridges on this actual bypass project has 1.8m sides with the 0.6m infill - because it carries a designated bridleway. What nobody bothered to find out before it was built is that nobody ever uses that bridleway because it doesn't go anywhere! Toffee is bad in traffic anyway, and Beano is yet to be backed so we have a youngster and a bad in traffic horse to cope with. The bridge is admittedly quite wide, but that is not necessarily a benefit. I don't envy you riding over the M6, it makes me feel dizzy standing on one of the motorway services link bridges!

 

[lilpete]

It is so stupid. We have a bridge near us, its metal and the sides are about 1m and it goes over a train track. Its also quite narrow. I always have to get off, and lead over, to cross it.

 

[hellyt1]

arghhhhh!
how frustrating for you! they are numbskulls, surely even a non horsey person can see the risks here????
and as you say, it's not like it's something they weren't aware of before the bl00dy road opened. I really feel for you.

 

[henryhorn]

It's definitely not you.
What you need is a horse to jump sideways onto one of their cars, teaching them that every horse is capable of leaping six feet sideways and four feet up if suddenly spooked.

Get a really well known person (Zara Phillips may do it as she is probably in a good mood after that award (!) to write a statement explaining how horses can leap.. They really aren't understanding the problem at all are they?
Haven't we got a minister for the horse these days? What happened to him? Surely he should be knowledgeable enough to realise the problem, or get advice if he isn't..
Go and bang your head against the wll Soots, I trulydon't know how you kep going against such utter prats...

 

[Patches]

Here's a couple of pictures of me crossing the M6. Doesn't bother me and I don't really bother to walk in the middle of the road. Worries Hannah and so she does walk more central. The road is only single width, couldn't pass on it and , with large machinery attached on the back, can only just fit along it.

I was amazed at a friend's horse who is scared of heavy traffic and yet she still walked over the bridge and through the underpass without any issues.

I totally see where you are coming from though, especially given the special attention the other bridge received.

 

[Sooty]

I don't know if the crash barriers help, we don't have those. They might make a difference in that they would keep the horses further from the edge. Would you mind me borrowing that picture? I could send it to the HA as an example of a potential solution - it's better than bloody white lines or mounting blocks! What calm horses you have, that looks a nightmare.

 

[Sooty]

Do you know how high that parapet is? It looks taller than ours, but it could be the camera angle...

 

[Patches]

Never measured them. But, if I had to guess, I'd say the actually metal work is about a metre, maybe the bracketing is extra. Certainly not much in it and the hubby reckons they're about 3.5 - 4ft tall.

Tell you what, I'll drive passed that way in the morning with my tape measure to check for you. They are both the same (as in on both of the motorway bridges) and infact the barriers are the same on the cattle crossing bridges we have.....now they are narrow! We had to cross one on the pleasure ride on Sunday but there were stewards on it recommending you dismount and lead. They'd brought a mounting block to assist getting back on once across the other side though.

But, yes, I'm way way higher than the parapet and if my horse were to shy or skip sideways and I was to come off the side door, it's not totally inconceivable that I could be thrown over the barrier.

I guess, it's not something I've really thought about before as I've always had to either cross both bridges once on the hack I'm pictured on her, or pass under it twice on the other route. However, I'm always pleased to get to the other side when crossing over it.

Here's us passing under the motorway...light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.