When the Friends of the Westbrook & Stonebridge Pond were working in the Westbrook on Sunday we noticed that there is an area of the road surface on the Stone Bridge that is significantly depressed. I’ve circled it in this image:
Since this will need to be repaired, it occurred to me that we could take the opportunity to implement the footway widening/roadway narrowing work that I’ve proposed in a previous post. This work could even be done on a temporary basis and it would allow us to study whether a permanent solution would work or not.
The depressed area is close enough to the existing kerb that it would, I think, be entirely within the area that would be taken up by a widened footway on the north side of West Street:
What I noticed on Sunday and again when I stood there this morning, is that a widened footway in this location gives pedestrians much better sight lines both south east towards vehicles approaching from Tanners Street and, especially, west down the length of Dark Hill/West Street.
Since it may be that the depression has been created by the gradual collapse of the historic bridge, then taking this area away from the heavy, breaking loading of vehicles may simply be a good idea in itself.
It would be a shame for public money to be spent on a repair that could likely be reduced in cost through an alternative approach.
Tim Stonor for Faversham 
Makes eminently good sense to me. Have you passed this on to Highways Dept and Town Council? See you Friday G
Gulliver Immink
10, Flint House Church Road Faversham Kent ME13 8AW M: 07764 614120 T: 01795 591081
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Tim, Is there any sign of “Roof Collapse” within the smaller of the two culverts ? We have had various discussions previously about the apparent blockage or restriction within. Regards, COJ
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Chris – both culvert pipes appear to be clear. At least they are now that we have removed a large polystyrene box from the western one of them. The concrete culvert pipes run within the historic arches of the bridge. It may be that the historic arches are degrading but, from what we could see, they are not apparently damaging the concrete pipes. But we didn’t undertake a thorough inspection – only what we could reach with basic tools.
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