Menai Bridge: Safety risks spotted as early as 1988

Major safety issues which forced the closure of one of the two bridges linking Anglesey to the Welsh mainland were first spotted more than 30 years ago.

The Menai suspension bridge was closed at five minutes' notice in October when engineers found "serious safety risks".

It did not reopen until February.

BBC Wales has seen an engineer's report which said that the parts of the bridge which caused concern last year were recommended for replacement in 1991.

The Welsh government said inspections recommended by engineers have always taken place.

The risks identified in October centred on the bridge hangers that hold the road deck in place, but according to the report, problems were spotted decades ago.

Some hangers were replaced between 1989-1991, but the majority were left in place.

Rhun ap Iorwerth, Member of the Senedd (MS) for Ynys Môn, said it was "scandalous" that the hangers were not replaced sooner.

Although the Menai Bridge was built in 1826, the hangers were installed between 1938 and 1941 when the bridge was strengthened.

But last year, engineers preparing to paint the hangers looked back through old inspection reports on the bridge, and found serious issues with the hangers were raised 35 years ago.

The 2022 engineer's report, seen by BBC Wales, states that "significant concerns regarding the... capacity of the hangers were identified during structural investigations in the late 1980s and early 1990s".

The report added: "These structural investigations led to the replacement of 40 hangers and a recommendation to replace the remaining hangers on a rolling basis thereafter."

However, rolling replacements were not carried out.

Following the bridge closure, preparations have begun to replace the hangers in the coming months.

Mr ap Iorwerth said: "If 40 hangers were replaced around 1990, and there was a recommendation to replace the rest, then there should have been a programme in place to change all the hangers over time.

"It's scandalous that successive governments didn't make sure that the long-term wellbeing of the bridge was assured.

"The way in which the bridge had to be closed with no notice last October was hugely problematic - we shouldn't have been in a position where a decision to close it needed to be made that quickly."

Nia Jones, of the Anglesey Tourism Association, said the island was thrust into a "chaotic situation" with "no notice" after the sudden closure of the bridge.

"It did hit the towns of Porthaethwy (Menai Bridge) and Beaumaris dreadfully, they became ghost towns overnight," she said.

"The retail sector of both those major towns of the island, in the run-up to Christmas, was devastating.

"We have to accept that the bridges need maintenance, and Menai Bridge is now in need of now of major maintenance. Some forward thinking and planning was needed in hindsight."

The bridge became the responsibility of the Welsh government when it was set up in 1999, though maintenance is carried out by a company called UK Highways (A55) Ltd, which took over the job in 1998.

The company told Robin Williams of Anglesey council that safety remained its top priority and IT had carried out extensive repairs over the past 25 years.

The Welsh government said: "The 1988 report recommended that the hangers should be inspected rather than automatically replaced, as part of a rolling programme of principal inspections.

"Principal Inspections have been undertaken since the 40 hangers were replaced and these inspections did not recommend replacing any further hangers on the Menai suspension bridge."