'We won't have a bridge if this continues'... Fears for historic Trim bridge being used by HGVs

The issue of trucks flouting the three-tonne weight restriction on Newtown Bridge in Trim has been highlighted by a local resident, after yet another truck crossed the historic bridge last week.

David Jordan says better signage is needed on the Dublin Road to alert drivers to the weight restriction and he also highlighted how vehicles are failing to obey the stop sign after coming over the bridge.

In a post on Facebook last week David wrote that “we won't have a bridge if this continues” and said breaches needed to be documented as he posted a photo of a heavy good vehicle crossing the bridge.

David said trucks using the bridge is a regular occurrence and he is calling for improved signage on the Dublin Road to warn HGV drivers about the weight restriction.

“I regularly witness this. At least twice this year, I have had to stop traffic to let trucks reverse back up the road. Clear signage on Dublin Road needs to be erected. It's not only the 40ft trucks, large vehicles go over as well,” he said. Georgia O'Halleran of Marcie Regan's Pub at Newtown said: “It happens quite a bit. There are times when we have had to go to the top of the main Dublin Road to back lorries up and tell them they can't go down there. I would be worried that the bridge, being so old, is not going to be able to take that weight.

“A lot of the problem is that Google Maps sends them down that way,” she added.

Georgia also believes that better signage is needed on the Dublin Road to warn drivers about the weight restriction.

The five-arch bridge, also known as St Peter's Bridge, is thought to date back to the 15th century and may even date as far back as the 13th century when Newtown was first established.

Local Cllr Aisling Dempsey said she had raised this issue with the area engineer before in 2022 and the signage had been assessed and deemed to be appropriate. She said at the time there was a lot of Irish Water works going on and it was thought the increase in trucks using the bridge may be down to sign confusion. However, with incidents continuing to happen, Cllr Dempsey said she would raise it again with the engineer, and feels that better signage is required on the Dublin Road. She added that the old historical bridge needs to be protected.

As well as the integrity of the bridge being at stake, she also raised the issue of pedestrian safety given that it is a narrow bridge. She explained that Meath Co Council intends to put in a pedestrian footbridge at that location but said that in the long term she would like to see the stone bridge being the 'pedestrian only' bridge and a new vehicular bridge for traffic constructed to facilitate traffic going from the Dublin Road to the Navan Road.