Nottingham City Council is due to approve plans to create a brand new £9m bridge – the first over the River Trent in more than 50 years.
The new pedestrian and cycle bridge at Trent Basin will create better links between West Bridgford and Nottingham city centre.
It will also make it easier for walkers and cyclists to access places such as Colwick Park from the south side of the river as well as Nottingham Forest’s home games.
The project is being funded by the Government with a Spring 2023 opening date. The structure will be the first new bridge over the River Trent since Clifton Bridge opened in 1958.
The boundary between the city council and Rushcliffe borough runs along the centre of the river, so a joint planning application will be needed.
Nottingham City Council is due to approve Trent Basin as the preferred location for the bridge and take forward the arch steel bridge design at an Executive Board meeting on Tuesday, 21 December.
It is also expected to approve the submission of duplicate planning applications for the bridge with connecting ramps and secure land and highway agreements with third party landowners, to deliver the scheme to a value of £9.2m.
A report prepared for the meeting said: “A new bridge for cyclists and pedestrians located at Trent Basin will add to the route choices available to both pedestrians and cyclists for both commuting and leisure journeys and support the redevelopment of the Waterside regeneration area.”
In October, it was recommended Trent Basin was the preferred location for the new bridge.
Other options such as Trent Lane were discounted due to complex engineering concerns, potential impacts on existing residents and the need to remove sensitive trees on the south bank.
Building a bridge at Poulton Drive was deemed achievable, but did not offer the same connectivity benefits that the Trent Basin location will provide.
Discussions have been held with water users regarding the height of the new bridge.
The current design allows for the Nottingham Princess and Trent Lady cruise boats to pass underneath and also allows for the single-handed sailing boats from the nearby sailing club.
The bridge would not, however, allow the less frequently used double-handed sailing boats to pass underneath.
This was considered during the feasibility design options, however, raising the height of the bridge requires much longer ramps, which impacts on the building of the structure.
Following a consultation, it is proposed that approval is granted to take the bridge scheme at Trent Basin forward and a planning application submitted.
Currently, it is not thought the council will need to actually buy land to deliver the scheme.
Subject to planning determination, and securing the necessary land approvals, the construction work on the bridge will start towards the end of 2022 and complete in 2023.
However,, the council is aware of some risks attached to the project. This includes the potential for cost escalation due to the rising price of materials, particularly steel.
To mitigate this, an uplift to cost contingencies has been applied at this stage. A further risk includes delays to project delivery due to materials shortages and long lead times for steel.
