By Stephen Tate, Immediate Past President
There appears to be increased news coverage of late, concerning major pieces of infrastructure affected by costly corrosion damage and weakening structures. On 5th December 2025, Aberdeenshire Council provided an important update on the future of the recently closed Aboyne Bridge, following new findings which have raised fresh concerns about the condition of the structure.
Aboyne Bridge is a seven-span reinforced concrete arch structure that carries the B968 Bridgeview Road carriageway over the River Dee in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire. The structure was designed by FA Macdonald & Partner, Engineers, and George Bennett Mitchell, Architect, in 1937 and constructed between 1938 and 1940 to replace a previous suspension bridge. The structure also has a category B historic listing, which was designated on 30th March 2000. Philip McKay, Head of Roads and Infrastructure, said: “As part of the ongoing design work for remedial repairs to Aboyne Bridge, further planned invasive site investigations have been undertaken over the recent months. These further tests were required to confirm assumptions made earlier in the options considered during appraisal work.
Assessment Outcomes
1. “Unfortunately, this work has confirmed that there are further anomalies in our understanding of the bridge design and several new significant structural issues.
2. It has now been established that the reinforcement in a critical part of the main bridge span, the hinge, is not what we had expected from the original design drawings. This compromises the original assumptions that were made regarding potential solutions to strengthen this element.
3. Due to the length of the bridge, the steel reinforcement bars are required to be joined. To achieve a structurally competent connection, in this case the joint is created with a device known as a coupler. Recent invasive investigations examined the condition of one of these couplers and found it to be suffering from significant corrosion, much worse than previously noted in the main reinforcement bars. While only one coupler was inspected, it is highly likely that the deterioration is repeated across the bridge. As a result, these elements cannot be repaired in the way we had planned.
4. Finally, the main deck is showing much more extensive corrosion assisted concrete deterioration in critical areas than anticipated, and this would mean that carrying out a reinstatement of the deck to re-establish a structurally sound reinforced concrete element would not be possible in the way we had planned. https://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/news/2025/dec/aboyne-bridge-update-51225
5. Bridge replacement costs were estimated as ~ £30M (Nov.24) for a 120 year life.
