Major roadworks at ROUEN

The fire that caused the damage to the Mathilde Bridge in Rouen

Hi All,

Having just returned from the UK we discovered that there are major road works on ‘Pont Mathilde’ (Mathilde Bridge) in Rouen which is used by the majority of the Sat Nav systems.  Given that we didn’t know about this in advance, we spent almost an hour getting around the problem on the way to the UK.  However, if your anglers are told in advance, the deviation is just a few minutes extra on their journey.  The French traffic website does not give an ‘end’ date to the works, just saying that the re-opening of the bridge is ‘undetermined’.

So, for all of your Dover (or Folkestone) to Calais/Boulogne crossings for anglers that would be travelling through Rouen, it will be a good idea to let them have the following information:

“Note to anglers travelling from Boulogne/Calais on the A28 to destinations via Rouen.  Major bridge repairs are taking place on Pont Mathilde (Mathilde Bridge) in Rouen.  Bridge closure is affecting traffic heading down the A28 and diversions may be in place at Junction 11.  Latest information is that the diversion will take you onto the A29 at Junction 11 (towards Le Havre) and then the A151 and A150 through Rouen via an alternative bridge.  Our advice is not to try and find alternative routes around Rouen.  The current diversion takes you on major routes and is only a few miles extra.  In fact, many locals actually prefer this route through Rouen as it gives better access to the A28 towards Le Mans and the A13 towards Paris.” 

We’ve just checked the latest & apparently the damage was so bad that it’s unlikely the bridge will be open again until Summer 2014 (after repairs estimated to be 8 million Euros.).  It was caused by a fire:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6zgZKKDg7s