A CITY resident who stayed up until the early hours watching a new footbridge being installed, said it’s a great addition for Worcester.

Martin Lewis climbed up a step ladder in his back garden to film the Broomhall Way footbridge being placed in the early hours of Sunday, capturing some historical footage.

The bridge, over the A4440 Crookbarrow Way, is for pedestrians, mobility scooters, bikes and those on horseback – and will open once it has been connected to surrounding footpaths.

When the bridge is operational it will provide a link between the communities of St Peters and Norton as well as supporting connectivity between the city centre and the new Worcestershire Parkway Station.

“My garden looks straight over where the bridge was placed,” said Mr Lewis. “I set my alarm for half 12 in the morning and climbed up a step ladder in the garden so I could see over the fence.

“It was quite an event, I watched until the bridge was put in place at about half past two.”

He went on to say: “The bridge is great for us. We’ve been looking forward to it because it opens up a lot of walks.”

The road underneath was closed both ways while the work was carried out, finishing eight hours ahead of schedule.

The installation had been expected to take most of Sunday, but was finished early in the morning, allowing the road to be re-opened at 11am.

The full Southern Link Road project, of which the footbridge is just part, is expected to be fully completed in 2021 with the dualling of the road between Junction 7 of the M5 and Powick Roundabout.

The county council approved an extra £7 million for three bridges across the A4440 in November last year.

The Link Road is one of the county’s busiest – accessed by over 30,000 cars each week day.

It provides an important link between the M5, South and West Worcester, Great Malvern, the wider Malvern Hills district, Ledbury, Upton and Herefordshire.

And is also an important bypass to the city centre, providing one of only two road crossings of the River Severn in the city. The scheme is being undertaken in phases, with initial £54.5 million funding from the Department for Transport in November 2017.

Other funding partners for the overall scheme include the county council, Local Enterprise Partnership and developer/third party contributions.

Go to worcesternews.co.uk for Mr Lewis’ video.

To keep up to date with the works, see: worcestershire.gov.uk/slr