Damaged village bridge to reopen

The bridge has been closed to traffic since August

Two halves of a village which have been separated since a bridge linking them was closed for repairs in August are set to be reunited.

Engineers said they were on course to reopen the Colwall Bridge, in Colwall, Herefordshire, on Friday.

The bridge, which had been hit by corrosion, will reopen to traffic weighing less than three tonnes.

Traders in the village say their trade has been badly affected since the bridge was closed.

'Back to normal'

When the bridge reopens, cars will have to take an S-shaped route so they can travel over less-corroded sections.

Councillor Brian Wilcox, Herefordshire Council's cabinet member for highways and transportation, said: "I am pleased we can now open the bridge to light traffic and hope it will help the community and businesses of Colwall to get back to normal, especially in the busy run-up to Christmas.

"As soon as we knew there was an opportunity to reopen the bridge to light traffic, we worked on designing the necessary traffic measures that are needed to be in place to allow for the re-opening of the road."

He said the council was still investigating what work was needed to open the bridge to all traffic.