Lowestoft Gull Wing crossing taking shape ahead of December finish

Engineers are building up the southern embankment for the bridge, pictured in December last year, which will cross Lake Lothing

Contractors are expected to ramp up the construction of a town's long-awaited water crossing this month.

Engineers are planning to build up the southern approach embankment of the Gull Wing bridge in Lowestoft.

A Suffolk County Council spokesman said there would be further construction of a reinforced concrete control tower.

The £145m project, partly funded by the Department for Transport, is scheduled for completion by December 2023.

Plans for government funding for the third crossing were announced by former Prime Minister David Cameron in 2015

"This is a major and technically complicated scheme in a difficult environment and, while there are still challenges ahead, overall it is progressing well," said the Conservative council leader Matthew Hicks.

"Once complete the bridge will bring huge benefits to Lowestoft and the wider area for many years to come."

Mr Hicks said Waveney Drive on the southern approach had "just reopened" following the construction of a new roundabout.

Demands for a third crossing had been repeatedly made for decades, as the town's Bascule Bridge struggled to cope with rising road traffic levels

Work on building the crossing over the railway line on the northern bank of Lake Lothing is already under way

The new bridge will provide a third waterway crossing, in addition to the existing Bascule Bridge at the harbour end and the Mutford Bridge at the Oulton Broad end

The plans for the bridge over Lake Lothing, for what would be the town's third waterway crossing, were first approved by the county council in 2015.

The first steel section of the bridge, weighing 380 tonnes and delivered from Belgium, was installed in October.

Once work to the bridge abutments and piers were completed, engineers expected to be able to install steel bridge deck sections - also from Belgium - in the spring.