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Road closure to go ahead to allow bridge repairs

Newcastle City Council Newcastle City Council councillor Juna Sathian and Gateshead Council councillor John McElroy standing on the Tyne Bridge during the repair work. Both are wearing council branded hi-vis jackets and white hard hats. Wire fencing is on either side of them. The Tyne Bridge is behind them and rust can be seen among its green paint.Newcastle City Council
A road is to be closed for four nights to allow the next stage of the Tyne Bridge repairs to go ahead

A road closure is to be put in place to allow repairs to the Tyne Bridge to continue.

Restoration work on the bridge, which carries traffic between Newcastle and Gateshead, has been taking place for the last eight months and is set to enter its next stage in January.

Newcastle Quayside will be closed to traffic overnight between Lombard Street and Sandhill between 7-10 January to allow large equipment to be brought to the site.

Newcastle City Council councillor Juna Sathian said "2025 is shaping up to be another busy year on site".

"The scale of the work required is huge and, while there is still a long way to go before we see our iconic bridge standing proudly over the Tyne once again, it has been wonderful to see the project get off to such a fantastic start in 2024," she said.

Scaffolding was put on the bridge by the Gateshead Tower to allow 96 years of paint to be removed and the structure's steel cleaned and repainted.

Repairs on the Gateshead side of the bridge are set to be completed in February.

Scaffolding erected around the Gateshead Tower of the Tyne Bridge. White canvas covers much of the scaffolding.
Scaffolding has been erected near the towers on both sides of the bridge

Scaffolding was put up on the Newcastle side in August to prepare for further restoration work to begin in 2025.

The council said this section of the work is set to be completed by autumn 2025 and will pave the way for the main bridge arch to be restored.

When work on the arch begins scaffolding will go "up and over" from the underdeck - meaning it will be installed around the curved plats on the sides of the bridge and over the parapet railing.

Gateshead Council councillor John McElroy said the repairs were difficult but workers were doing a "fantastic job" in challenging conditions.

"We look forward to seeing the new paintwork when the scaffolding gets removed," he said.

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