THE second new bridge of the millennium is to be lifted into place in Durham City this weekend.

A 100-tonne crane will lift the 35-metre steel span foot and cycle bridge on to its piers on Sunday.

The £450,000 structure will span the A690 in the city centre, linking Castle Chare with the railway station footpath and the almost-complete Highgate housing development.

The new structure will be the second footbridge to be built in the city in just over 18 months.

Chris Tunstall, Durham County Council's director of environment and technical services said: "We will need to close the A690 between the Millburngate roundabout and the North Road roundabout while the work takes place.

"The road will close from 3am on Sunday to 5am on Monday, but we expect to lift the bridge into place during daylight hours on Sunday.

"We appreciate that this will cause some inconvenience, but the closure is necessary to allow the work to be done in safety.''

The bridge, which will rest on steel piers with stone-clad reinforced concrete abutments, will provide a much shorter route from the city centre to the railway station.

Because of the sandy nature of the ground, a total of 60 piles have had to be driven down to a depth of 11 metres to support the structure.

Situated at the Castle Chare end of the bridge, there will be steps for pedestrians and a ramp has been created for cyclists.

During the installation of the bridge, the county council will take the opportunity of the road closure to carry out other maintenance work in the area.

Once the bridge works are complete, the street lighting and fencing in the Castle Chare area are to be improved, and hedging, shrubs and trees will be planted.

It was in February last year that the first new footbridge in the city for about 40 years was opened, linking Framwelgate Waterside and The Sands car park at Durham's Freeman's Place.