Lowestoft Gull Wing completion delayed until 2024

It is not known when the bridge in Lowestoft will be finished

Completion of a £145m bridge that will provide a town with a long-awaited third water crossing has been delayed until 2024.

The Gull Wing bridge in Lowestoft, Suffolk was due to be completed in December.

Contractors, Farrans, applied for an extension to the closure of Denmark Road, until the end of October, so highways work can be completed.

Suffolk County Council apologised for any disruption.

The road closure is to allow for a new roundabout and approach road to the bridge on the northern side of Lake Lothing, which was "taking longer than previously estimated", the authority said.

However, it said construction "continues to make good progress", with seven of eight bridge spans already in place.

The main bascule span is expected to be installed in the new year, pending an agreement with Associated British Ports, when it is expected the navigation channel will be closed for three weeks.

It will be the "most complex and major element" of what the council called a "unique and challenging project".

Simon Bretherton, Suffolk County Council project director, said: "The Gull Wing Bridge would be a complex and challenging infrastructure project at the best of times, to say nothing of the challenges of Covid and the global supply issues we have faced in the past few years.

"We apologise for the short-term disruption this road closure extension may cause, and we are grateful to residents for their continued patience and understanding."

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He said "substantial progress" had been made and "significant challenges" remain.

"A clearer view of the timetable for its completion and opening will emerge as we undertake that final major component during a closure of the main navigation channel in the new year," he added.

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 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 2022.

The project has been part-funded by the Department for Transport.