Conwy £750,000 bridge overhaul under way

A £750,000 project to repair corrosion on one of the main bridges crossing the River Conwy is getting under way, just feet from an iconic Welsh castle.

The 300ft (100m) structure links the town of Conwy with Llandudno Junction.

Engineers described installing scaffolding across the bridge arches as "complicated".

Pigeons have also posed one of the biggest problems, with a skip full of droppings expected to be scraped from the bridge during maintenance.

Paul Collins, from contractors Gabre (UK) Ltd said: "It's a complicated job working underneath the arch of the bridge and above the river.

"We have a safety boat on standby and all the scaffolders are connected to the structure by lanyards.

"There's a lot of corrosion at the abutment, and throughout the bridge there's paint blown off the rivet heads."

Conwy council said it was aiming to keep disruption to traffic above to a minimum.

Principal engineer Owen Conry said: "Conwy is an important tourist destination, so it's a priority to avoid permanent lane closures.

"There will be brief closures in the evening tonight and tomorrow, but overall, we hope that people in Conwy won't even know that the work is happening until the scaffolding comes off in August."