Although the flood defence scheme didn't directly effect anything railway,I have included it out of interest and also to show the nature of Tiverton's town planners.Although without doubt flooding was a major problem,surely there was a better way of dealing with it than demolishing a beautiful 400 year old bridge.To me,the destruction of this historic bridge is nothing short of a cultural crime.

The second major problem that Tiverton faced was traffic congestion,especially during the busy tourist season and this was to have an effect on Tiverton's railway heritage.For years tourist traffic on its way to and from Devon and Cornwall,would all pass though Tiverton's narrow roads,causing many snarl ups and accidents and the situation grew worse each year.

Ironically,one of the main things blamed for the growing traffic problem was the increase in buses,many of which were the new services introduced to replace the railway.Now having destroyed the railway,the plan to solve this problem, was to build two new roads and both of them would be built on top of the old railway line.These roads would mean Exeter traffic could bypass the town centre,linking up with the North Devon Link Road and then on to the M5.Typically of councils,it would take 20 years of planning before the roads were actually built.

The two roads were called,"The Southern Relief Road" and the,"Eastern Distributor Road".The Southern Relief Road was planned to go from West Exe,all the way down the old line to Blundells Road Bridge, where it would meet the Eastern Distributor Road,that would be built to meet the North devon Link Road to the north.This plan would mean the destruction of the old line,the levelling of the old station site and the destruction of several bridges.

Most controversially it meant the destruction of one of Tiverton's most iconic landmarks,the Victorian rail bridge across the Exe.This part of the plan met with fierce local protest.For years people had crossed this bidge by rail and for years after the railway had gone,the bridge was still used by locals and it held fond memories for many people.

Others,having seen the previous destruction of the nearby 400 year old Exe Bridge,couldn't bare the thought of losing another piece of Tiverton's history,especially if it was only going to be replaced by another concrete monstrosity.There were many proposals and plans to make the bridge part of a cycle path or to become a foot bridge,while building the new road bridge by its side,but these proposals were rejected as being impractical and more importantly,too expensive.So it was then,that in the summer of 1993,the beautiful old Victorian bridge that had added so much to people's lives in Tiverton was destroyed.

 Tiverton Museum's pictures showing the destruction of the old Victorian bridge and the construction of the modern bridge.