“It’s been a long haul”: ups and downs in the long wait for the new Waterside foot-cycle bridge over the Trent to become a reality

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UPDATE OF 16 April 2026:

Waterside Bridge to be opened on Tuesday 2 June!

The long-awaited Waterside Foot-Cycle Bridge across the Trent on the east side of Nottingham which is to be officially opened at 12 noon on Tuesday 2 June 2026, and this will be followed by a celebration Family Fun Day on Sunday 14 June.

The new Bridge has been built for Nottingham City Council by Balfour Beattie, financed by the DfT’s Transforming Cities Fund. It links the Colwick and new Trent Basin major housing area north of the river with the Lady Bay area of West Bridgford in Rushcliffe Borough on the south bank.

The opening will be the culmination of almost 12 years of campaigning by several local groups, including Pedals (Nottingham Cycling Campaign), Blueprint Regeneration, the Nottingham Civic Society, Nottingham Local Access Forum and the Riverside Crescent Residents Association, with the support of Sustrans (now the Walk Wheel Cycle Trust) and 20 other local Active Travel / Environmental / Transport Groups from both sides of the river.

The bridge opening is being combined with some improved nearby approach routes on both sides of the Trent, and we are keen to see more and more of these, including extended and upgraded riverside paths, and access routes, implemented in the next few years, to help make the most of the great potential for this very exciting major new link to open up new utility and leisure routes, linear and circular, for walkers, cyclists, wheelers and runners, etc.

More information is at https://www.transportnottingham.com/project/pedestrian-and-cycle-bridge/

Hugh McClintock,
Pedals (Nottingham Cycling Campaign) and Chair of the Foot-Cycle Bridge Campaign Steering Group.

UPDATE OF 17.11.25:

Successful Bridge Lift completed on 10 November!         

        

Update: October 2025

Countdown to the exciting Waterside Bridge Lift in mid-November!

Nottingham City Council and the Waterside Foot-Cycle Bridge contractors, lead by Balfour Beattie, have now confirmed the dates for the lift of the 87-metre new bridge into place across the Trent from the main construction site west of Trent Basin. It is the week of 10-16 November, which, it is very much hoped, will allow enough flexibility in getting just the right weather conditions for the next stage with this major and exciting landmark, whose progress many people have followed very closely and eagerly.

This includes many people in Hucknall, where the bridge was first assembled late this Spring by Briton’s Fabricators, helping to create several local jobs as well as, temporarily to have a major new landmark in their area!

CGI image of the planned Bridge Lift operation from the main construction site at Trent Basin into its position across the Trent west of The Hook, Lady Bay. This will involve the largest carne in Europe, to help reduce the risk of the operation being delayed by high winds and should take place between 10-16 November. Photo: Nottingham City Council

To carry out this operation, which will also involve closing the nearby section of the Trent, apparently the largest crane in Europe will be used, with a height of 75 metres, i.e. about three times the height of the tallest part of the bridge itself! The crane itself will arrive at the site in sections during the two weeks before the crucial week. Using such a large crane increases the chances of the lift not being delayed by high winds.

Lots of people are, we know, very much looking forward to this landmark event, and would like to come and watch the proceedings if they can rely on the weather and the timing! This will be possible, but it should be emphasised that the only safe viewing point nearby will be on the opposite side of Trent Basin, i.e. the west side of the existing Trent Basin housing. It will of course also be very important for anyone coming along to respect the privacy of local residents.

View from the new bridge at its current construction site at Trent Basin showing the area on the west side of the Trent Basin housing development which will be the nearest accessible safe viewing area for the Bridge lift in November

The idea of having a safe viewing point on the south bank is unfortunately not feasible because of the need to protect the security of the secondary construction site, near The Hook, Lady Bay. This includes the section of the riverside path between The Hook and Lady Bay bridge which has been closed since the start of construction work in March and will remain closed until the bridge opens, late next Spring. This closure period will also allow time for this very popular section of riverside path to be upgraded and made more durable, in combination with other improved access links in the Lady Bay / West Bridgford area.

The half-assembled bridge at the main construction site at Trent Basin: photos taken during the Press and Partners Briefing on 1 October

On the north bank the City Council has already improved several links, especially between Trent Lane and Colwick Park, combined with a lot of recent effort to upgrade the paths within that park to all-weather surfaces

To the west of the north bank landing, plans for permanent improved connections between the new bridge and the City Centre (via Daleside Road, Manvers Street and the Island Quarter etc.) have to be integrated with further phases of the Trent Basin housing development so will take time to finalise and implement.

However, in the short term there will be some improved links via Poulton Drive and Daleside Road. The north bank riverside path will in due course be extended west to connect with the existing riverside path and canal towpath at the Meadow Lane Lock, as well as on under Trent Bridge to Victoria Embankment, etc., adding to the extent and value of “The Big Track” and making it easier and much more pleasant for walkers, cyclists, runners and people in wheelchairs and pushchairs to enjoy in safety more of the great riverside environment, including making circular trips via the other traffic-free bridges, such as the Suspension Bridge and the tramside path on Wilford Bridge, etc.

In the medium and longer-term there is good potential for extending and improving these links further, east of Colwick Park into Gedling Borough, towards Stoke Bardolph and Gunthorpe etc, as well as on the south bank in the Holme Pierrepont area, linking to new housing and employment developments nearby and further back from the river, as well as the many major leisure sites and attractions north and south of the Trent.

It will therefore be very important to keep up the momentum for these further schemes to maximise the great potential of the new bridge in the years to come after its completion next May / June. The Environment Agency are committed to this in principle, as part of their River Trent Master Plan, and depending on finance and negotiations with landowners and other interested parties.

Shots from the BBC East Midlands Today feature on the Waterside Bridge, including an interview with Councillor Linda Woodings, on East Midlands Today on 1 October.

There has been much very good local media coverage for this exciting project, including a BBC East Midlands Today feature on 1 October following the Press and Partners Briefing that morning, so that should hopefully encourage this wider interest and support as well as making people greatly look forward to the bridge completion and the arrival of this major new landmark for Nottingham.

Many thanks to all those organisations and individual people who have supported us in this long campaign. This started with a meeting hosted by Nick Ebbs, former CEO of Blueprint Regeneration, in their offices in the Lace Market back in August 2014!  Pedals and the Nottingham Civic Society, along with Blueprint, the Nottingham Local Access Forum, the Riverside Crescent Residents’ Association, and the Trent Basin Residents’ Association have all along been the key players, with the also very welcome vital support in principle of 20 other local groups.

Hugh McClintock

Chair, Trent-Basin to Lady Bay Foot-Cycle Bridge Campaign Steering Group

We are now over half way through the completion of this exciting project and a lot of people came along to see the great spectacle of the “Bridge Lift” when the tallest crane in Europe lifted the bridge into place across the Trent from the main construction site on the west side of Trent Basin.  Balfour Beattie are the main contractors for Nottingham City Council, due for completion in late Spring 2026.

Time-lapse short video of the Bridge Lift (Nottm City Council & Balfour Beattie):-
Nottingham’s brand new walking and cycling bridge lifted into place – time-lapse

Next steps after the Bridge Lift

There now a great deal more work to be done. This includes building the connecting bridge on the north bank across the mouth of Trent Basin, and the nearby piazza, as well as the connecting ramps on both sides of the river, and associated landscaping etc. We also gather that every single joint on the new bridges and ramp have to have a further coat of special weather and rust protection paint, a job that, we can well imagine, could easily be delayed by spells of very wet, windy and stormy weather.

Connections on both banks of the Trent, short and longer term

Then of course there is the work on further improved connecting links (temporary, if not yet permanent on the north side, because of the need to tie in with further phases of the Trent Basin housing development.

The south bank access improvements including the riverside path between The Hook and Lady Bay bridge, and the various junction improvements (with better crossing facilities for cyclists and pedestrians) in the Trent Boulevard / Radcliffe Road area of Lady Bay / West Bridgford, including at Abbey Road, Rutland Road / Mabel Grove and the west end of Trent Boulevard.

There are no firm plans yet to upgrade riverside east of The Hook towards Holme Pierrepont (NCN15) which we are also keen to see along with improvements to NCN15 past the soon to be expanded NFFC City Ground, between Lady Bay Bride and the path under Trent Bridge to and from County Hall and the Suspension Bridge, etc.

On the north bank we hope that the permanent improved links between the new bridge and the City Centre will be signed as an improved connections between National Cycle Network Routes 6 and 15 connection via the Island Site-Canal Street-Castle Boulevard-QMC etc.

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