A canal bridge designed by Staffordshire county engineers has opened to road traffic, removing a major obstacle to the restoration of a long-disused waterway.
When much of the Lichfield Canal was filled in almost 50 years ago, the old humpback Cappers Bridge was levelled.
Its £550,000 replacement, commissioned by the Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust, was funded by the European Regional Development Fund.
A reinforced concrete structure, with brick facing and buff copings, it carries Cappers Lane over the seven-mile canal.
The project, managed by the council, removes the first obstacle from the Coventry Canal junction, opening the way to the long-term restoration of the canal towards Lichfield.
~John Wakefield~ the county’s leader for development services, was ‘delighted that our expertise in bridge design and construction has been of service’. The restoration of the canal, built in the 1790s, would provide a valuable leisure and economic asset to the area as well as being a historic part of the landscape, he said.