AN Adlington company is involved in the project to build a £4.5 million footbridge across the Manchester Ship Canal at the new Lowry Centre in Salford. The single span bridge, 95 metres long, will provide pedestrian and cycle access to and from the Lowry Centre and also connect up to the proposed site of the Imperial War Museum-North at Trafford Park. Four tubular steel towers, each 30 metres tall, will hoist the bridge 23 metres above the waterline, allowing traffic along the Manchester Ship Canal to pass below.

Both the lattice-framed towers and the mechanism to lift the bridge - a series of cables and four 60 tonne counterweights - are being made at Fairport Steelwork Ltd.

When the bridge is completed later this year its lifting mechanism will be exposed and open to view by visitors.

Fairport Managing Director Kevin Cumberland said: "We have used the latest computer software to simulate all aspects of the build and that, combined with traditional skills and physical graft by our lads, has made the project a real team effort. We are all excited because it is going to be a really spectacular bridge."

The Lowry Centre footbridge is being funded by the Millennium Commission, the European Regional Development Fund, Trafford Park Development Corporation, the City of Salford and English Partnerships.

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