Bridge craned on to barge prior to restoration
BBCA road bridge connecting a town centre to the harbour front has been removed so it can be refurbished.
A 650-tonne crane lifted Ross Bridge in Penzance on to a 134ft (40m) barge on Monday morning in an operation which Cormac site manager Lydia Knight said had gone "to plan".
The barge will take the swing bridge to a dry dock facility at Falmouth for specialist refurbishment and then it will be returned to Penzance by Easter, Knight added.
A temporary bridge will be installed with a single lane for vehicles with pedestrian access, but road closures will be required while it is built and again when it is reinstalled, as well as when boats need access to the dry dock.
Knight said: "We're hoping the bridge will be back before Easter but it's totally dependent on the weather, we're governed by it."
She said a weather window and suitable sea state were needed for the barge to safely journey around Lizard Point on the journeys between Penzance and Falmouth.
The recent weather had delayed the lifting of the bridge.
Knight said: "Unfortunately we've been a bit unlucky with the weather, with all the storms and the weather warnings we've had, so it's just working around that, really.
"We just had to make sure we got a safe weather window in terms of the sea state just to get the barge here."
The road has been closed to allow the bridge to be removed and its temporary replacement installed.
John Stevens owns the Old Lifeboat House restaurant at the edge of the Ross Bridge.
He said: "It's about time but it needs to be done, it needs to go and come back as quickly as possible because it's affecting everybody now."
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