Part of Sunderland road to be closed for weekend next month as part of New Wear Crossing works

Work on the New Wear Crossing is already underway.

The stretch of Timber Beach/Hylton Park Road will be closed between the entrance to DW Fitness and entrance to the old RTC car park on Saturday, August 6 and Sunday, August 7.

Signed diversions will be in place, which will take traffic along Wessington Way to the relevant area of Sunderland Enterprise Park.

The road will be closed to allow the construction team to complete drainage connections from the Wessington Way drainage network into the existing drainage system on Hylton Park Road.

These works are required to be completed in advance of the next phase of road works commencing on Wessington Way.

The temporary closure is part of the works to develop the New Wear Crossing, which are now well underway.

The works involve an investment of over £117million to improve the links between the A19, the city centre and the Port of Sunderland.

Queries about the project can be made by sending an email to [email protected], calling 0800 223 0379 or logging on to www.newwearcrossing.co.uk.

The New Wear Crossing is now starting to take shape, with the fabricated steel sections that will form the deck of the structure now being delivered to site.

The huge cross beams that will provide the framework for the concrete deck have also arrived on site in Pallion, each measuring 20 metres long by two metres deep.

In total, 38 cross beams have been transported from the Port of Sunderland to site in recent weeks, along with the main girder sections, which will run along the edge of the deck, each measuring 15 metres by 1.8 metres.

Hundreds of smaller, fabricated steel components are also being delivered to site so the deck can be assembled.

The deck is being built in two sections, with the first section being slowly launched out across the river in September, in readiness for the arrival of the main A-frame pylon – which is the centerpiece of the new bridge – towards the end of the year.

The second half of the deck will then be launched later during the winter.

Hundreds of concrete panels have already been delivered to site in preparation for the bridge deck to be built.

The new bridge will cross the River Wear between Wessington Way in Castletown and European Way in Pallion.

It is the first bridge to be built over the Wear in Sunderland for more than 40 years and is part of the wider strategic transport plan to link the Port of Sunderland and city centre with the A19.