Nottingham's £18m Waterside Bridge is now open to the public, marking the first new major bridge to cross the River Trent in nearly 70 years.

Supported by funding from the Department for Transport's Transforming Cities programme, the active travel bridge was fabricated just eight miles away in Hucknall and provides walkers, wheelers and cyclists with a ‘more appealing' and accessible route across the river over its 87-metre-long, 160-tonne structure, .

Nottingham also saw the opening of the Basin Bridge, which links the Waterside Bridge landing with Trent Basin. At 26m long, the Basin Bridge forms part of a plan to provide a ‘continuous east-west path along the north side of the Trent'.

Transport Nottingham plans to install metal panels portraying local history and nature later this month. It added that the bridge will be ‘covered by CCTV and will be lit at night with low-level hand-rail lighting', which it stated is ‘less disruptive' to wildlife.

To mark the occasion, Nottingham City Council is organising a free ‘bridge fun day' on Sunday 14 June from 10am – 4pm, which is expected to feature bridge building competitions, sports, face painting, games and food and drink.

Cllr Neghat Khan, leader of Nottingham City Council, said: ‘This new bridge is the flagship achievement of our Transforming Cities programme, and part of the £167m investment secured with Derby to transform how people move across our region.

'For the first time communities on both sides of the River Trent are directly linked by a safe, accessible and attractive walking and cycling route. It will help unlock the regeneration of the Waterside area, support new homes, new facilities, new opportunities for our city. Nottingham has shown that we can deliver ambitious, integrated transport projects that genuinely improve people's lives.

‘Projects like this don't happen overnight and they certainly don't happen alone. As well as our lead delivery partner Balfour Beatty, a number of local partners, groups, other local councils including Rushcliffe and Nottinghamshire and of course the Department for Transport have been involved in this ambitious project to better connect our city – thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to get us here.'

Kay Slade, managing director of Balfour Beatty's Regional Civils business, added: ‘We are proud to have brought this ambitious scheme to life, we've worked at pace since the project was first conceived in 2022 and have developed the complex design and navigated funding requirements and volatile markets to deliver the project on time and on budget.  This has drawn on Balfour Beatty's engineering expertise and working in close partnership with Nottingham City Council, SCAPE, and our local supply chain partners.'

Local transport minister, and MP for Nottingham South, Lilian Greenwood commented: ‘Getting people walking, wheeling and cycling is crucial to reducing congestion on our roads and keeping our nation healthy, and I am delighted Nottingham now has a stunning new way to safely cross the River Trent for the first time in decades.

‘This bridge was built locally using British steel and is a great example of how our Transforming Cities Fund is helping hundreds of projects improve the lives of communities up and down the country.'