Bristol's Prince Street Bridge repair costs treble

It is hoped the bridge will re-open by "early April 2016"

Repair work to a Grade II listed bridge will cost three times as much as expected and take twice as long.

Bristol City Council has confirmed that the Prince Street Bridge may not fully reopen until the autumn and says the bill is now likely to hit £1.2m.

Corrosion to the 137-year-old swing bridge was "more widespread than initially reported", the council said.

The bridge's closure last August has been blamed for much of the recent congestion in the city centre.

The council says the condition of the bridge is "substantially worse than originally thought"

It was initially expected to take six months and cost £400,000 to repair.

But a report going to next month's council cabinet meeting says the "full extent of the corrosion in the previously hidden internal structure" was revealed in December and is "substantially worse than originally thought".

Councillors will be asked to approve £1.2m to cover the costs of repairing the wrought iron bridge, built in 1879 to span the city docks.

Cabinet member Simon Cook, who has responsibility for transport, said the bridge had "considerable operational value for Bristol's complex and challenging transport network" and it was "important that we invest in its future".

Its closure has coincided with city centre construction work on the Metrobus scheme. The boss of the city's main bus firm has said resulting traffic delays are the worst in memory.

Conservative councillors had raised concerns that the bridge might never reopen to traffic.

In December, Mayor George Ferguson said it was "impossible at this stage to give a guarantee" that it would, but the council's report says the repairs would allow it to continue to carry "light traffic".

Conservative councillor Charles Lucas said: "I welcome the overdue announcement from the mayor that he will reopen the bridge to traffic and we should never have been in this position in the first place.

"The Conservative group has been lobbying the mayor to re-open the bridge for months and this is welcome news, albeit the delay is regrettable."