![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/d4ff7f31-b314-4231-9564-020c58608048.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe bridge was closed for five weeks in 2022\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The bridge outside Kilrea, Co Derry<\/p>\n
A historic Co Londonderry bridge is to close for the second time in three years due to concerns over its structural integrity, the Department for Infrastructure has confirmed.<\/p>\n
Kilrea Bridge \u2013 known locally as the Bann Bridge \u2013 will be closed from Saturday September 20 after concerns were raised over the integrity of a retaining wall.<\/p>\n
The bridge has been in place for more than two centuries, having originally been built in 1783.<\/p>\n
It was closed in 2022 for a period of five weeks to allow a \u00a3225,000 maintenance project to be carried out. Diversions were put in place via nearby Portglenone and Agivey.<\/p>\n
The work was undertaken to waterproof the bridge deck and wingwalls, as well as repairing the parapet deck to extend the lifetime of the structure.<\/p>\n
A DfI spokesperson said the latest closure would last \u201cseveral weeks\u201d.<\/p>\n
“Following a recent safety inspection the Department identified vertical and diagonal cracking on the retaining wall located at the south-west end of the Bridge,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The bridge outside Kilrea, Co Derry<\/p>\n
News Catch Up – Friday 19th September<\/p>\n
“In the interest of public safety, the Department has taken the decision to close the road until such times as the retaining wall can be fully assessed, and repairs carried out.<\/p>\n
“We acknowledge this will create disruption and apologise for any inconvenience caused, however, the safety of all road users is paramount.<\/p>\n
“The road will remain closed to traffic for several weeks while the Department arranges for a temporary solution to be implemented. Once these works are complete the road will be reopened while a permanent solution is developed.<\/p>\n
“Local diversions are in place and we urge the travelling public to follow the signage, drive with due care and attention and allow extra time for their journeys.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The bridge was closed for five weeks in 2022 The bridge outside Kilrea, Co Derry A historic Co…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[84491,1817,1300,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-436768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-department-for-infrastructure","9":"tag-derry-news","10":"tag-liam-tunney","11":"tag-northern-ireland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115232547433805272","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}