The Tyne Bridge is to close to traffic for vital inspections ahead of work starting on its long-overdue restoration.
The iconic bridge will be closed in order for the planned £41.4m restoration project announced earlier this year to go ahead. Engineers will inspect the steelwork about the main roadway on the bridge.
This will see the bridge fully closed to traffic overnight from June 27 until July 1 from 10pm to 6am. As the Great North Run sign will also be erected during this week, there will also be a lane closed in each direction on the bridge from 8pm - before the full closure comes into force each evening.
Read more: Tyne Bridge to be shut for essential inspections that will pave way for £41m restoration
The shared footpath and cycle path on the bridge's west side will remain open to allow pedestrians and cyclists to cross. The council has also announced lane restrictions will be in place the following week - July 4-8 - these will see the southbound lane and a footpath closed between 9.30am and 3.30pm.
Those closures are so engineers can inspect the steelwork during daylight. There will also be a lane closed northbound from 6.30pm to 6.30am between July 4 to July 8. There will be diversions in place but drivers are asked to allow more time for their journeys.
More road closures leading up to the bridge on both sides and underneath it will be required, the council said. And ahead of the inspection works the central motorway be closed overnight on June 26. That closure will be between 4am and 11am and apply to the area from Cowhill Overbridge to Pilgrim Street roundabout.
Coun Jane Byrne, the councillor with responsibility for transport in the city, said this will be the "most disruptive element" of the first phase of work. Highlighting how the bridge is used by 70,000 vehicles a day, she said the council had worked hard with contractors to plan work which will reduce the impact on people getting around.
"Unfortunately, the scale of work required, means that there will need to be closures in place as we carry out this vital inspection work, safely and efficiently," she said. "We really hope people bear with us, as we need to get this work underway for government to release funding, so we can restore our magnificent Tyne Bridge to its former glory."
Stephen McLean - special projects construction manager for engineering contractors Esh - explained that because the investigations and surveys required for the inspections would include workers using elevated platforms and ropes to inspect the Tyne Bridge's iconic arch, the closures were essential for safety reasons.
The Government's £35.3m cash injection for the restoration project came with the strict condition that inspections like these took place. Work to revamp the Tyne Bridge and the central motorway was confirmed on 3 June. It is slated to begin later this year - and both the Newcastle and Gateshead councils and Esh Construction have committed to carrying out the work in consultation with wildlife groups in order to protect the kittiwake colony which nests in the bridge.
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