A MAJOR project to refurbish a bridge described as an eyesore will go ahead this weekend.

Drivers should expect disruption as Essex County Council undertakes the structural work to upgrade the Cowdray Bridge in Colchester.

The bridge is at the junction of Cowdray Avenue and Ipswich Road.

One lane of traffic will be closed over the bridge from midnight on Good Friday until 5am on Tuesday.

Train services will also be suspended to the Clacton line, which runs underneath the bridge, as workers need access to the railway.

Colchester’s High Steward Sir Bob Russell said he wrote to all 75 county councillors last year to ask when the bridge would be repaired.

It has had large concrete blocks for 16 years acting as safety barriers after an incident near Lawford when a lorry crashed through a bridge on to the railway line below.

The concrete blocks were also added to a bridge in Widford, Chelmsford. Three years later Sir Bob said it was completely reconstructed.

Sir Bob said David Finch, the leader of Essex County Council, replied in January to confirm the Colchester work was scheduled for Easter.

Sir Bob said: “I am grateful to Mr Finch for his positive response to my representations.

“I sincerely hope the work undertaken this weekend will result in the permanent removal of the visual eyesore, although we shall have to wait and see whether it is on a scale and quality as that which happened to the bridge in Chelmsford.”

Railway lines will be closed between Hythe and Colchester with buses replacing trains all day.

A spokesman for Essex Highways said “Arrangements for works and lane closures remain as advertised.

“The cost will be confirmed depending on exactly how much work is needed.

“This is simply maintenance work to ensure that the bridge remains safe for motorists and pedestrians.”