Britannia Bridge: Work restarts as Menai remains closed

The Britannia Bridge was originally built to carry the railway from Chester to Holyhead - the road deck opened in 1980

The one remaining bridge connecting Anglesey to the north Wales mainland is set to be closed periodically.

Work on the Britannia Bridge will take place overnight and include times when the road will be closed completely.

It began earlier this year but was suspended when the other crossing on to Anglesey, the Menai Bridge, was closed to all traffic for safety reasons.

Anglesey MP Virginia Crosbie said the priority was ensuring emergency service vehicle access at all times.

Network Rail, which owns the Britannia Bridge, said the road closures would be after midnight to reduce disruption.

The work, which began earlier this year, was suspended in order to make sure that the one remaining vehicle bridge between Anglesey and the mainland remained open.

It involves involves installing support beams, which engineers say will make the structure more resilient to bad weather, and is due to be finished by December.

• Island bridge closure a nightmare, haulier warns

Network Rail and the Welsh government have now agreed the work can begin again, but with restrictions only between 22:00 and 05:00 GMT and all closures happening after midnight.

Ynys Môn MP Virginia Crosbie says priority needs to be given to making sure emergency services can access the island

Ms Crosbie said: "I fully accept safety comes first but this is an added disruption for my constituents when trying to get to the mainland.

"I have concerns too that even a closure for 20 minutes at night could cause issues for the emergency services. We know seconds count in life or death situations.

"Sadly, the full closure of the Menai Bridge and the work on the Britannia at the same time really does highlight the Welsh government has neglected north Wales' infrastructure for too long and the outcome is this situation."

Network Rail said: "The bridge will remain open throughout, with the exception of a few 20-minute periods, after midnight on some shifts, when we'll need to stop traffic in order to ensure everyone's safety.

"We apologise for the inconvenience this may cause and thank everyone for their patience as we improve the reliability of this vital transport link."

The Welsh government said it understood people's frustrations at the closure, adding that the emergency services would be "accommodated to safely cross in the event of a blue light emergency".

It said traffic volume at night was about 10% of peak time, "so disruption will be minimal".