New £16m footbridge over River Severn opens

The Kepax Bridge has been built to help reduce road traffic in the area

A new £16m footbridge over the River Severn has opened after more than a year of building work.

The Kepax Bridge in Worcester runs from Gheluvelt Park to the Kepax site in St John’s.

Worcestershire County Council hopes the bridge will encourage more people to either walk or cycle into Worcester instead of driving, leading to fewer vehicles on the roads.

Councillor Marc Bayliss previously said: "This is an important project for the county, one that will bring a major boost for the health and wellbeing of people who live, study, visit or work in Worcester."

Construction began in October last year and the sections of the bridge were lifted into place over the summer.

It will be part of a figure-of-eight route along the River Severn which takes people from Diglis Bridge in the south to Sabrina Bridge near the centre and to the new bridge in the north.

Locals Julia Thomas and Calvin Collins said they were excited to see the much anticipated bridge.

"It's brilliant, we've been coming down and looking for months and months, peering at it and waiting for it to open." Ms Thomas said.

Julia Thomas and Calvin Collins live local to the Kepax Bridge and look forward to cycling along it

Mr Collins said the new bridge would shave time off their commute.

He said: "We both cycle, so we'll probably use it if we're doing a loop from the other side, coming over.

"From our house, the pub will be a lot closer to get to our house, instead of walking all the way into town and back to it."

Ms Thomas added: "It's just a shame, it's this time of year, it's been so flooded and everything's so wet but it will be absolutely brilliant when it's a bit drier."

One resident told BBC Hereford and Worcester that it was going to benefit him "massively".

"There are multiple trips I do in Worcester every week, for which I will now be taking a shortcut over Kepax as opposed to going all the way to Sabrina and then back up through town," he said.

Another said she thought it was going to be "great" due to it opening up more access for dog walkers.