Reopening soon for historic town bridge

The reopening of Ireland Bridge on June 28 will be welcomed by commuters from the town's surrounding villages who have been diverted or had to use a shuttle bus to St Ives estate since Christmas.

While the road over the bridge was closed, Bradford Council took the opportunity to reconstruct retaining walls on Harden Road, widen the road and build a new footway between Ireland Bridge and St Ives estate.

Due to recent heavy rain, work is still being completed on the Twines which run down from St Ives to the bridge.

Coun Ghazanfer Khaliq, Bradford Council's executive member for environment and sustainability, said: "The bridge is a grade 2 listed building so as well as providing a vital link between Bingley and the villages of Harden, Cullingworth and Wilsden, it is important to retain it as it adds to the historic character of Bingley.

"The council has worked closely with English Heritage to ensure the bridge maintained its original appearance and each stone was numbered before being taken down and rebuilt in its original location."

The historic bridge which carries the B6429 Harden Road over the River Aire is a masonry arch structure with seven spans.

It was discovered that the arches were too weak to safely carry modern vehicles and the parapets and supporting walls were unstable.

Bradford Council decided to refurbish the bridge to carry two lanes of 40 tonne traffic.

The work on the bridge was due to start last July but was delayed when it was found that rare Daubenton's bats, a protected species, were roosting in the arches.

While the arches were strengthened, the bats were relocated to bat boxes following advice from Natural England. About 200 bats are now back breeding in the bridge again.

Buses will resume a normal service on June 28, ending the park and ride service provided by the council.