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Destroyed M20 pedestrian bridge listed on ebay

A collapsed footbridge that brought Kent's most important motorway to its knees has appeared on ebay.

So far 52 people have bid more than £66,000 on the tongue-in-cheek listing, which advertises the former M20 span for 'for spare or repair'.

The 'seller' states: "For sale - partially damaged footbridge, 96' span, comes complete with spiral walkway at low end, guaranteed tourist attraction (see photos)". They add: "Buyer collects."

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A closeup of damage caused to a pedestrian footbridge on the M20
A closeup of damage caused to a pedestrian footbridge on the M20

The bridge between J4 (Leybourne) and J3 (Borough Green) was destroyed on Saturday (August 27) when a lorry carrying a digger collided with a section on the hard shoulder of the London-bound carriageway.

Concrete and other detritus crushed two lorries and a motorcyclist suffered broken ribs after throwing himself from his bike out of danger.

No one else was injured.

The ebay listing first appeared on Saturday, August 27
The ebay listing first appeared on Saturday, August 27

The delay stymied the millions of people expected to use the motorway over the bank holiday weekend and several football matches were called off because players were caught up in the snarl.

Workers and emergency services toiled through the night to clear more than 170 tonnes of debris. The fallen sections were cut up and loaded by heavy duty cranes onto lorries and driven away.

Repairs were then carried out on the road surface and safety barrier.

The M20 partially opened earlier than Highways England's estimate of 6pm and all lanes were clear by this morning.

The coastbound section remains hanging over the carriageway, but has been assessed as safe by structural engineers.

A pedestrian bridge collapsed near junction 4 on the M20
A pedestrian bridge collapsed near junction 4 on the M20

Highways bosses confirmed today that the pedestrian overpass will be rebuilt, with costs set to run into millions of pounds, adding to the already-costly clean-up operation.

A timeframe for the work has yet to be set.

A similar motorway footbridge struck by a vehicle on the M8 in Scotland cost £2.6 million to replace last year.

But before any work can start, the coastbound section needs to be demolished.

An aerial view of the scene. Picture: NPAS Redhill
An aerial view of the scene. Picture: NPAS Redhill

Its chief engineer, Catherine Brookes, says it will be demolished “in the coming weeks”.

She told KentOnline today: “The way that bridge was designed means that part of it can stand structurally safely on its own.

“We’ve had chartered structural engineers inspecting it and actually brought in somebody else to give us a second opinion to make absolutely certain.

“We will be demolishing that section of the bridge and replacing the footbridge with a brand new one, but we are content it’s safe to remain and we wanted to get the road open safely as quickly as possible.”

Ms Brookes says the volume of traffic over the Bank Holiday formed part of their decision to leave the remaining section of the bridge standing.

She said: “We always plan our roadworks very carefully to minimise disruption and that’s why we decided to leave that section of footbridge in place and come back to it at a later date because we appreciate the roads will be busy for the rest of the Bank Holiday.

“We are now in the planning phase of that work and I anticipate the demolition to happen in the coming weeks.

“The replacement of the footbridge will be planned to minimise disruption as much as possible.”

A 50mph speed limit along the stretch remains in place.

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