§ Mr. James Johnsonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what contribution his Department has made in recent years in the field of research and development into bridge design, construction and maintenance; and how much of this has been related to the problem of metal fatigue.
§ Mr. CarmichaelSince the beginning of 1972 my Department has published 22 papers describing the results of bridge research and has a further six in preparation. Four of the published papers and the six being prepared relate to metal fatigue in bridges.
Information obtained from this research was used by the Merrison Committee and is being made available to bridge design offices and to the committee of the British Standards Institution engaged in preparing a design code for bridges. The cost of this research during the last four years has been £2.28 million; of this £315,000 related to the problem of metal fatigue, for which a further £65,000 has been allocated for 1974–75.