The 17-metre-long, 21-tonne steel structure, installed just north of Tarnock in September 2019, supported works to deliver a new 400,000-volt underground cable beneath the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, between Bridgwater and Seabank, near Avonmouth.

This undergrounding avoids the need for pylons through the protected landscape, reducing visual impact and helping to safeguard local ecology while maintaining resilient power supplies for the region.

In partnership with contractor Balfour Beatty, the project team lifted the bridge out in a single piece using a crane. As across the wider programme, careful planning and environmental stewardship underpinned the operation, and all bridge materials were either reused or responsibly recycled to support sustainable construction.

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The bridge has marked the project's progress since 2019. To date, 143 pylons have been installed over 57 kilometres, including 116 of the world's first operational T-pylons, and 8.5 kilometres of underground cable has been laid beneath the Mendip Hills.

Robbie Griggs, Project Manager for National Grid, said: "The removal of this bridge is a landmark moment for everyone who has worked on the Hinkley Connection Project. As both the first bridge installed and the last removed, it bookends almost six years of construction work that has transformed the region's energy infrastructure. We're now firmly in our reinstatement phase, working hard to restore the land and leave a positive legacy for local communities as we deliver low-carbon, homegrown energy to six million homes and businesses across the UK."

Approved by the Secretary of State in January 2016, the Hinkley Connection Project strengthens the electricity transmission network in the South West and supports the UK's transition to net zero, aligning with the government's ambition to power all homes and businesses with secure, affordable and cleaner energy by 2035.