Nottingham's A52 Clifton Bridge due to fully reopen in winter

Nottingham's Clifton Bridge was closed in February 2020 after corrosion was found on steel support cables

A city bridge that has been largely closed for 17 months is due to reopen in November.

Nottingham's Clifton Bridge was closed in February 2020 after corrosion was found underneath ,leading to the city briefly becoming the most congested place in the world.

Repair work costing £20m was due to conclude in February but was delayed.

Highways England now says it plans to open a third lane in September with all work completed by November.

Highways England said the bulk of the work was taking place under the bridge

The closed bridge, built in 1972, is technically one of two collectively known as Clifton Bridge, which crosses the River Trent and forms part of the city's ring road.

The bridge, which carried up to 60,000 cars every day, had to be closed on 6 February 2020 when corrosion to the steel support cables was discovered during a routine inspection.

It sparked a city-wide traffic snarl-up that added hours to commuters' journeys and made Nottingham the most congested location in the world, according to a sat-nav manufacturer.

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Adrian Oulds, from Highways England, said: "We do appreciate the frustrations roadworks cause but this is much-needed work.

"The work itself is not straightforward - it is a very complex infrastructure project that's taken time to complete."

He said the bulk of the work was taking place underneath the bridge but Highways England was also using the opportunity of reduced traffic flow due to the pandemic to carry out further maintenance work, including resurfacing.

Nottingham was briefly the most congested city in the world when the bridge closed

Mr Oulds said workers at ground level had been taunted by angry drivers on a daily basis.

"Our road workers are getting verbal abuse and things thrown at them by members of the public," he said.

"We totally appreciate the frustration that road works caused but those road workers are trying to do a job and get this bridge back to a safe and serviceable state."

Highways England is doing additional maintenance work including resurfacing

One lane on the bridge reopened in February 2020 and a second opened in November.

Mr Oulds added: "We are hoping to have a third lane open to traffic and Queen's Drive slip road by the end of September with a view of the bridge totally open by November."