A REVOLUTIONARY engineering technique is keeping open an arched bridge leading to isolated dales farms.
The 160-year-old Ireshopeburn No 2 bridge, in Upper Weardale, needed strengthening to carry 40-tonne lorries.
Conventional methods would have meant closing the road for up to ten weeks and could have cost highway authority Durham County Council well over £100,000.
It is being carried out for £54,000, should finish in four weeks and keep the road open.
Engineers are using the Archtech method of inserting steel rods into arches through the road surface and grouting them in place.
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