By John Connell

Last updated at 12:00, Tuesday, 21 August 2012

A temporary road bridge which has provided a vital link for more than two years will be taken to Cornwall after it is dismantled.

Traffic on the bridge

It reconnecting two sides of Workington after the floods of 2009 swept away Northside Bridge.

After Workington’s new permanent £11.2m Northside bridge opens on October 22 the temporary bridge will be removed.

Janson Bridging were subcontracted by Morgan Sindall, formerly Morgan Est, to erect the two-way, 350-tonne, 67-metre span bridge. Workers put it up in only 72 days, making it one of the fastest temporary road bridge builds of this size ever in the UK.

Les Hodgson, director of Janson Bridging UK, said: “It will go to Cornwall though not in its entirety.

“It is possible that some of it might go to Italy.

“That’s the beauty of it: it’s like Meccano.”

But Mr Hodgson stressed that most of the bridge would go to the Newquay area of Cornwall

“This is while they rebuild another bridge which is old and has basically had it,” he added.

It is estimated that it will take about four or five weeks to dismantle the temporary road bridge.

A spokeswoman from Morgan Sindall said the bridge had performed exactly as it was intended to.”

First published at 11:26, Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk