A FOOTBRIDGE worth £1.3 million has finally been installed across a busy A127 junction.

The new bridge at the Kent Elms junction was set down by a crane in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Echo:

Installation - engineers on the scene

Echo:

Kent-based Nusteel Structures won the contract for the footbridge to replace the one removed to allow the junction to be widened to three lanes each way.

Unlike the previous footbridge, the new replacement has ramps as well as steps so that wheelchair-users and people pushing prams and buggies will be able to use it.

The former footbridge was removed over two consecutive nights in November 2016 to create room for the junction work.

Kevin Buck, proposed portfolio holder for transport at Southend Council, said: "After a long campaign followed by several years of construction, the new Kent Elms pedestrian footbridge span has been installed.

“At 01.30am on Sunday morning, I, along with a small group of residents, watched the span being craned in to place.

"Once construction is complete, school children, the elderly, wheelchair users, parents with push chairs and in fact all residents will be able to cross the A127 in complete safety and segregated from the traffic.

"It‘s for days like this that I wanted to become a councillor."