Four-year renovation works on the Tyne Bridge will not affect the route of the Great North Run

Extensive renovation works on the Tyne Bridge will not affect the route of the Great North Run.

Councillors were told on Monday that the much-needed refurbishment of the landmark crossing should have "minimal” impact on the famous half marathon, despite a recent assessment of the bridge’s dilapidated condition.

It was revealed in early December that the major maintenance on the Tyne Bridge could take up to four years, after inspections revealed it to be in a worse state of disrepair than was feared.

Two of the bridge’s four lanes of traffic will have to be closed for the duration of the works, prompting concerns about years of traffic congestion around Newcastle city centre.

But council officials say there will be no need to reroute the Great North Run while the extensive repairs are carried out, with a “worst case” scenario being a slightly narrower road than usual for runners to navigate.

Asked at a meeting of the Newcastle and Gateshead Joint Bridges Committee about what impact the long-awaited refurbishment would have on the Great North Run, Newcastle City Council principal engineer Alistair Swan said: "We are trying to phase the work so that there is minimal impact on the Great North Run.

"Because we will have barriers on the carriageway, we will be able to pull those back and maximise the carriageway available.

“I think the worst case scenario is we may lose one footway for pedestrians during the event, but there will always be at least one open.

“You may lose a little bit of width on the carriageway, but the majority of the carriageway will be available.”

He added: “We have regular discussions with the Great Run Company about the phasing and programming of the works.”

A detailed inspection of the bridge has confirmed its raft of problems are worse than local councils had first feared – including peeling paintwork, corroding steel, cracked concrete, leaking drains, and damage to its road surface and pavements.

A funding package of £41.4m, mostly funded by the Government, to repair both the Tyne Bridge and the Central Motorway was agreed this summer after years of desperate pleas.

But the current inflation crisis means that some of the motorway works could now be delayed or even abandoned, in order to divert cash to the increasingly expensive bridge restoration.

Engineers now estimate that it will take between 36 and 42 months to complete the massive refurbishment job, the first major maintenance on the Tyne Bridge for more than two decades, the start date for which has been pushed back to autumn 2023.

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