ROAD cones are making a comeback on a jinxed bridge which has already cost twice as much to repair as it did to build.

Auto Link, the business consortium which maintains the A19, said essential maintenance will mean nightly closures of the Tees Viaduct for three weeks.

Keith Polson, Auto Link's general manager, said work to refurbish bridge joints across the whole length of the bridge at Portrack, Stockton, is part of an ongoing planned maintenance of the road.

Chloride run-offs from the de-icing salt put down on the road surface during the winter affect the type of concrete construction used in building the viaduct - a problem it shares with Birmingham's Spaghetti Junction.

More than 30 chloride-damaged joints in the Tees Viaduct were replaced at a cost of £250,000, just less than two years ago.

Night time closures were introduced then as they are this time, to keep traffic disruption to a minimum.

Mr Polson said: "The via-duct will be closed each week night from 8pm to 6am the following morning to enable the work to be carried out in safety and as quickly as possible. The first closure will be on Monday, and we plan to have the work completed within three weeks.

"When the viaduct is closed there will be clearly signed diversions which will take traffic across the Newport Bridge.''

He added: "We would remind road users that accident, particularly nose-to-tail collisions, occur more frequently when road works are in operation."