New Wear Crossing nears completion

By Kris Jepson

People in Sunderland have seen a milestone development on the New Wear Crossing site.

In a feat of engineering, 28 cable stays are being erected to form, along with the central pylon, the iconic imagery of the New Wear Crossing.

Watch @krisjepson's report here:

Each cable stay contains up to 77 wire strands, which have a diameter the size of a penny.

Some 120 miles of wire strands are being installed on the bridge.

When the individual cable stays are tensioned they will be able to lift 539 tonnes, the equivalent to 77 elephants or 45 double decker buses.

On completion, the New Wear Crossing will stand twice as high as Gateshead’s Millennium Bridge. Work is expected to be finished in Spring 2018 and is costing around £117m.

The 17th cable stay was installed this morning and the process took 2.5 hours.

Cable stays connect the bridge deck to the high pylon and are covered in a protective, white sheath.

Sunderland City Council say the structure will benefit the entire region.

In early autumn one lucky person will become the first to walk end to end on the New Wear Crossing.