HUNDREDS of optical fibre circuits must be rerouted prior to works beginning on the replacement of Leven Rail Bridge, Fife Council has said.
The bridge is being replaced as part of the £116 million Leven reconnected project, which will see a return of rail services to the town in 2024.
Before the existing bridge can be demolished, Openreach engineers need to conduct essential infrastructure works to reroute hundreds of optical fibre circuits. Fife Council said the project will get underway on July 25 and last for around five weeks.
Peter Morrell, Openreach’s project delivery manager, said, “To facilitate the bridge works we need to move phone and broadband cables which currently travel across the old bridge in ducts. We’ll be demolishing two existing underground chambers, building new chambers and rerouting these essential cables so we can continue to provide local people and businesses with services.
“The scale and complexity of work on the bridge – planned for up to 10 weeks – means some disruption to drivers is inevitable, so we’d advise local people to take this into consideration when planning journeys, and our contractors will do all they can to complete work as swiftly as possible.”
Once the telecommunications work is done, Fife Council said the focus will then be on removing and replacing the Leven Rail Bridge. It added that the nature and extent of the removal works means that the A955 over the River Leven will be closed for up to a year.
