A £4.5 million restoration of Sutton Weaver Swing Bridge over the River Weaver near Runcorn has been completed.

The restoration of the 88-year-old bridge, which carries 20,000 vehicles a day, started in summer 2013.

It is the first complete refurbishment in its history and will extend its life by more than 50 years.

A vintage Leyland cub lorry and a modern day HGV will be the first vehicles to drive across the bridge at a special ceremony on Friday, October 10.

They will highlight the weight changes the bridge has had to cope with since it opened in 1926.

A flotilla of rowing boats from Runcorn Rowing Club and boats from the River Weaver Navigation Society will join in the celebrations.

Canal & River Trust project manager Andy Johnson said:” The restoration work has given a new lease of life to a bridge that had become a rusting eyesore.

“Its restoration has been a challenging project but with its gleaming new paintwork, we hope local people will again be rightly proud of this iconic, historic waterway structure.

“Although the newly painted bridge certainly looks impressive, much of the project has been devoted to repairing the bridge structure itself.

“The bridge now has a completely new deck and beneath the bridge we have carried out extensive refurbishment of the unique buoyancy tank structure on which the bridge swings.

“Corrosion was a major concern but engineers were only able to evaluate the full extent of the problem once traffic had been diverted and the bridge deck removed.

“Further investigations resulted in additional steelwork repairs being scheduled.

“The end result is a bridge capable of supporting 40 tonne HGVs and a structure fit for the traffic demands of the next 50 years.”

The bridge, which carries the busy A56 trunk road, will reopen to traffic overnight in the early hours of Saturday, October 11.

Work will then start to dismantle the temporary bridge which has kept road traffic moving during the restoration.