MPs press again for fourth Nottingham road bridge over River Trent

A crossing between Colwick and Radcliffe-on-Trent has been proposed

MPs have renewed their calls for another road bridge across the River Trent to help tackle Nottingham's traffic congestion.

The city is currently served by Lady Bay Bridge, Clifton Bridge and Trent Bridge.

However politicians have long argued a fourth crossing would reduce jams and shorten travel times on both sides of the Trent.

Now a bridge connecting Colwick and Radcliffe-on-Trent has been suggested.

MPs raised the bridge issue in a debate in parliament this week, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reports.

Ministers were told how recent problems with the Clifton Bridge and Lady Bay Bridge have regularly brought traffic in the city and nearby parts of the county to a standstill.

Politicians in Gedling and Rushcliffe are making the case for the Colwick to Radcliffe bridge, which they say would reduce congestion in nearby industrial estates and around the A52 corridor near Gamston.

While Clifton Bridge was out of action, Nottingham was at one point named the most congested city in the world

Tom Randall, Gedling's Conservative MP, said: "A fourth Trent crossing would relieve the pressure on the existing system and, if constructed for example at Colwick, would complement the recently-built Gedling Access Road."

He asked transport ministers to support the drawing up of a business case for such a project.

In February 2020, cracks appeared in Clifton Bridge causing months of closures and delays which lasted until October 2021. During the closure the city was briefly found to be the most congested in the world.

Then in July 2022, a lorry crashed through the side of Lady Bay Bridge causing jams in both Nottingham and West Bridgford before works to repair it finished a month later.

'Stretched to capacity'

Ruth Edwards, Conservative MP for Rushcliffe, said the Clifton Bridge closure caused months of chaos on the roads.

She said: "We are stretched to capacity, at the moment, for our infrastructure in terms of crossing the Trent."

The Department for Transport's (DfT) roads minister Katherine Fletcher said the Nottinghamshire MPs' suggestions would be discussed.

She said: "As someone that has got stuck in Nottingham when it grinds to a halt I do recognise the points [members] are making."

Ms Fletcher said the project was in its "very embryonic days" and asked the MPs and Nottinghamshire County Council to build an investment case locally for the DfT to consider.