THE wait is nearly over – Poole council is “confident” the Twin Sails Bridge will open to traffic before the week is out.

After cracks appeared in the road surface and a section crumbled and fell off, the surface has been replaced and the £21.6m structure is nearly ready for the first vehicles to travel across.

“The resurfacing works were carried out successfully last week and the road markings have been re-laid,” said Julian McLaughlin, head of transportation services at the Borough of Poole.

He added: “We are carrying out final commissioning with the contractor before we accept the bridge and take it over as a highway.

“We are confident that the bridge will open to traffic this week.”

Poole’s second harbour bridge was originally due to be completed by the end of January but has been hit by a succession of delays.

A defect in the road surface of both lifting leaves has led to the entire surface being removed, including the waterproof lining protecting the steelwork, and replaced.

There will be three temporary additional lifts of the bridges over the Easter holiday period from now until April 13.

The Twin Sails Bridge will lift at 8am and 3.30pm and Poole Bridge will lift at 5pm from Monday to Friday. The weekend summer schedule remains unchanged.

“With the Twin Sails Bridge due to open to traffic in early April, we have been operating the winter lifting schedule to allow operators the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the two-bridge system,” said Mr McLaughlin.

“With the summer lifting schedule starting on April 1, we have held discussions with the maritime community who requested some temporary additional lifts.

“We will continue to monitor the impact the two-bridge system has on the maritime community and traffic flow across the Back Water Channel and appreciate the co-operation of everyone involved,” he said.