A major milestone has been reached on the £117 million New Wear Crossing project in Sunderland.

The 100-metre A-frame structure, which is the focus point of the new crossing, was raised into position on Saturday, 11 February.

The 1,550-tonne pylon was gradually installed during a 15-and-a-half hour operation, split over two days.

The scheme was the culmination of two years of design and planning, and 12 months of fabricating the pylon for Farrans Construction and Victor Buyck Steel Construction (FVB joint venture).

Council Leader Paul Watson said: "Seeing the pylon raised into position, standing high above the River Wear, makes me feel very proud. It also gives us a real indication of the impact this bridge is going to have on Sunderland.

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"We are on budget and on time to complete this project by the spring of 2018, and then we can really start to make sure this new bridge delivers for Sunderland."

Stephen McCaffrey, Project Director for FVB Joint Venture, added: "It's a great day for everyone working on the project – we have been working towards this day since we broke ground 19 months ago.

"We could have built the pylon on site, from the ground up, but we chose to fabricate it in one go, off site, in a factory environment because we had better control over conditions, got a better quality of finish, and could avoid having people working at height.

"The transportation of the pylon from the fabrication yard in Belgium and the raising on site have been challenging, but we planned well and the result was a successful operation."

Once completed, the new bridge will link Castletown to the north of the River Wear with Pallion to the south, and will enhance public transport, as well as significantly improve the important transport links to the city centre and Port of Sunderland from the A19 and A1.

(LM/JP)