Nexus, which owns, manages and is modernising Metro, has announced plans to carry out the replacement of a Metro footbridge in North Tyneside in just a single weekend in order to minimise disruption to people living nearby.
The footbridge that crosses the Metro lines at Deneholm and Relton Terrace in Whitley Bay will be lifted out and replaced over the weekend of November 6-7.
Nexus and its contractor, Balfour Beatty, are striving to keep the disruption to an absolute minimum for the duration of the works.
The work, forms part of the £385m Metro: all change modernisation programme, which will see stations, trains and rail infrastructure upgraded and renewed.
The Deneholm and Relton Terrace road bridge, which runs parallel with the footbridge, will be closed to all vehicle traffic from midnight on Friday November 5 until 5am on Monday November 8 to allow heavy cranes to perform the delicate lifting operations.
At the same time Nexus contractors will be carrying out vital renewal work on the road bridge, to ensure it is good for road traffic to use for decades to come.
When the bridge is closed a temporary alternative vehicle access from the Valley Gardens area will be created by North Tyneside Council, from the end of Valley Gardens through to Newsteads Drive. This route will be signposted and will be open for cars and light vehicles only.
Pedestrian access will be maintained using the road bridge via Deneholm towards Front Street using the road bridge.
A wider project to waterproof, repoint and strengthen the Deneholm road bridge will take place from October 21 until around December 15 2010. Much of the work will be carried out during the night, when Metro services are not running.
Meanwhile, the Metro road bridge at Mast Lane, near Cullercoats Metro station, will also be undergoing a programme of refurbishment between from October until mid December. Much of this work will also be done during the night.
Director of Rail and Infrastructure for Nexus, Ken Mackay, said: “This work is an extremely important part of our Metro all change programme.
“They are projects that will involve an enormous amount of work between now and December. A lot of the work will be happening in the early hours of the morning. Any disruption will be kept to a minimum, but it is invetable there will be some.”