Bridge strikes statistics

[Magdalia]

The list of most bashed bridges in 2024/25 has now been published see here:

Britain's most bashed bridges revealed by Network Rail

Network Rail reveals a low bridge in Leicestershire saw more crashes than any other crossing.

www.bbc.co.uk

A low bridge in Leicestershire has regained the dubious honour of being the most bashed in Britain.

Network Rail said the A5 Watling Street bridge in Hinckley was struck 22 times between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025.

That placed it ahead of Harlaxton Road in Grantham, Lincolnshire, which was hit 18 times in the same period and Stuntley Road in Ely, Cambridgeshire, which saw 15 crashes.

Network Rail has urged haulage drivers to check their vehicle heights and plan suitable routes after reporting 1,666 bridge strikes nationally - an 8.75% increase on the previous year.

The "Top Ten" are:

Britain's most bashed bridges​

• Watling Street A5, Hinckley - 22 strikes
• Harlaxton Road, Grantham, Lincolnshire - 18 strikes
• Stuntney Road, Ely, Cambridgeshire - 15 strikes
• Stonea Road, Stonea, Cambridgeshire - 15 strikes
• Lower Downs Road, Wimbledon - 15 strikes
• Station B4105, Berkswell, Warwickshire – 14 strikes
• Ickleton Road, Great Chesterford, Essex, – 11 strikes
• Barrowby Road, Grantham, Lincolnshire – 11 strikes
• Abbey Farm, Thetford, Norfolk - 11 strikes
• Coddenham Road, Needham Market, Suffolk – 11 strikes

 

[Tester]

The list of most bashed bridges in 2024/25 has now been published see here:

Britain's most bashed bridges revealed by Network Rail

Network Rail reveals a low bridge in Leicestershire saw more crashes than any other crossing.

www.bbc.co.uk

The "Top Ten" are:

Plot those on a UK map and there is a remarkable concentration - any thoughts as to why?

 

[Ayrshire Roy]

Plot those on a UK map and there is a remarkable concentration - any thoughts as to why?

A lot of the areas are pretty flat so drivers will not have to deal with a lot of under bridges compared to a city or hilly area.

 

[Tester]

A lot of the areas are pretty flat so drivers will not have to deal with a lot of under bridges compared to a city or hilly area.

There is logic in that.

In which case, I wonder if level crossing discipline shows up as better in a similar area.

 

[edwin_m]

A lot of the areas are pretty flat so drivers will not have to deal with a lot of under bridges compared to a city or hilly area.

In those sorts of areas the railway is typically fairly near to grade, and there are often water table issues making it more difficult to lower the road. So there may just be more low bridges to be hit.

 

[35B]

Plot those on a UK map and there is a remarkable concentration - any thoughts as to why?

Victorian engineers pushed embankments through relatively low above the towns they crossed, creating targets for lorry drivers.

I regularly drive under two of the bridges listed, and they act as blockages on the roads they cross.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Victorian engineers pushed embankments through relatively low above the towns they crossed, creating targets for lorry drivers.

So, are we talking about Victorian engineers, back in the day, 'cheaping out' by building railway lines as absolutely inexpensively as possible, the nature of the local geography in that particular part of the country, and the tendency for modern day road vehicles to be much bigger/higher (and far more numerous) than ever could have been contemplated 150 or so years ago?

 

[35B]

So, are we talking about Victorian engineers, back in the day, 'cheaping out' by building railway lines as absolutely inexpensively as possible, the nature of the local geography in that particular part of the country, and the tendency for modern day road vehicles to be much bigger/higher (and far more numerous) than ever could have been contemplated 150 or so years ago?

Thinking of the two in my neck of the woods, absolutely. There are four low bridges in Grantham, and while you could do a certain amount to ease road clearances, the fundamental constraint is the level of the railway embankment through the town. Two of the bridges are very close to a slope, but two cross straight, flat and level roads.

 

[Magdalia]

Plot those on a UK map and there is a remarkable concentration - any thoughts as to why?

Three of the top ten are near to here: Ely, Stonea and Great Chesterford.

The railway was constructed in the 1840s through flat rural areas with little road traffic so railways usually crossed the roads on the level.

As the number of private cars on the roads increased, restricted height underpasses were sometimes constructed next to busy level crossings. All of Ely, Stonea and Great Chesterford are like this, though the level crossing at Ely is now closed following the opening of the bypass.

The bridge heights are 6'6" at Stonea, 8'6" at Great Chesterford and 9'0" at Ely.

There are various examples of the same arrangement that are no longer in use, including Milton Road in Cambridge, where it crossed the St Ives line, and Littleport, where the underpass is closed to road traffic and now used as the means for passengers to get between the down and up platforms.

 

[30907]

What would the figures look like if you counted those bridges that have protective beams etc installed?
I suspect that these examples are ones that haven’t made NR's cut - unlike, say, the notorious A205 at Tulse Hill.

 

[HSTEd]

What would the figures look like if you counted those bridges that have protective beams etc installed?
I suspect that these examples are ones that haven’t made NR's cut - unlike, say, the notorious A205 at Tulse Hill.

I think the bridge on Barrowby Road in Grantham does have a beam installed, but I might be misremembering.

That is currently on the A52 route through the town, so might become less of an issue when the bypass (eventually) opens. It was delayed again because the viaduct designers forgot to account for wind loads during the beam push.

 

[35B]

I think the bridge on Barrowby Road in Grantham does have a beam installed, but I might be misremembering.

That is currently on the A52 route through the town, so might become less of an issue when the bypass (eventually) opens. It was delayed again because the viaduct designers forgot to account for wind loads during the beam push.

It does, but lorries do keep clouting it despite clear signage - ditto the A607 Harlaxton Road bridge.

I suspect strikes will fall once the bypass opens, but am not sure how quickly traffic will migrate.

 

[andy33gmail]

I wonder what effect closing the Ely level crossing had on bridge strikes on its underpass.

Intuitively, at least some of the struck vehicles would have elected to go over the crossing rather than hit the bridge. Certainly there’s less friction to doing so once you’ve gone the wrong way than having to turn around in the space available.

Clearly it’s impossible to separate variables here - as the bypass was opened shortly before. This surely must have induced some traffic away and thereby reduced strikes.

All that said, I can appreciate that the level crossing posed some risk, and given train volumes was pretty unusable anyway

aside; they did the opposite action at Littleport - closed the underpass but left the manual gated crossing open. This makes some sense, as previously you traffic shooting under there just as pedestrians were rushing for trains. And with the closure of the barrow crossing, pedestrian volumes were profoundly increased.