Work starts on new Shoreham footbridge

Family owned construction, civil engineering and property services firm Osborne has started work on the construction of the replacement Shoreham footbridge on behalf of West Sussex County Council.

The first phase of the work involves erection of the site offices, compound and construction of a causeway onto the riverbank to enable the site team to start work on constructing the new £9.8 million bridge.

In September Osborne will be using barges to construct the sections of the bridge which will go over the river and cannot be built from either side of the riverbank. The barges will ship materials to the area where the team are working and will remain anchored in that spot while the site team complete that section of the bridge.

During the project, Osborne will be based in a site compound in the Riverside Road car park and will be available once a week to answer queries people may have about the project works on a one to one basis. The company has already written to the residents who live closest to the bridge, and further information about the project is available on the West Sussex County Council website.

Work to build the new bridge is expected to take 45 weeks to complete, and is set to open to the public during the summer of 2013. The existing bridge will then be fully demolished.

Tommy Chambers, Managing Director of Osborne’s Civil Engineering team, said: “The current footbridge has been in place for more than 90 years providing a link between the town and the beach, so we’re very aware of how significant replacing it is to the local community. We understand residents may have questions about the work we’re carrying out here, so our site team will be happy to answer any questions they may have.”