Newport city centre road bridge reopens on time following extensive upgrade

Thursday 1 Dec 2016

Newport city centre road bridge reopens on time following extensive upgrade

Region & Route:: Wales & Western: Wales & Borders; | Wales & Western

Bridge Street Road Bridge, an iconic bridge connecting Newport to its city centre has reopened to motorists today (from 12noon Thursday 1 December) following essential upgrade work.

The 105 year-old road bridge was closed in May 2016 while it was completely reconstructed to prepare it for electrification as part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan to provide a bigger, better, more reliable railway for passengers.

The original bridge was demolished in July and the new and improved structure was installed to accommodate the overhead line equipment required to power the new fleet electric trains.

The new bridge is able to accommodate heavier vehicles, to ensure it is fit for modern day city centre traffic and also has a wider footpath for pedestrians and improved road alignment for better accessibility.

Jayne Bryant AM for Newport West, who attended the official opening earlier today, said:

‘I am delighted that work is now complete on this fantastic new bridge, bringing us one step closer to an electrified railway.

‘The faster, greener, electric trains will provide a major economic boost for Newport and deliver a quieter environment for those living near the railway.

‘It is a major boost the bridge has been reopened just before Christmas. As a local resident, I know how disruptive and inconvenient the road closure has been, thanks to all local residents for their patience over the past several months.’

Karl Gilmore, programme manager for Network Rail Wales said:

‘We would like to thank the local community for bearing with us while this essential work took place to prepare Newport for the new fleet of electric trains as part of our Railway Upgrade Plan.

‘We are very pleased to be able to re-open this vital road bridge on time. This extensive upgrade has also ensured that the bridge is now fit for modern day city traffic, as well as being able to accommodate the electrification equipment needed to deliver a bigger, better railway for passengers.’

Upgrade work will begin on Tunnel Terrace footbridge in Newport in early 2017, where the bridge will be raised to accommodate overhead line equipment needed for electric trains.

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
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Network Rail press office - Bryony Parry
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Bryony.Parry@networkrail.co.uk

About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

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