THE new Bexhill to Hastings Link Road has reached a significant milestone as a new railway bridge begins to take shape.

Steel beams have been lifted into position for the new bridge, which crosses the Hastings to London railway line near the new road’s junction with Queensway, in St Leonards.

A 600-tonne crawler crane was positioned on the east side of the mainline railway to lift the beams onto the abutment and the central bridge pier during overnight work.

The beams were preassembled into braced pairs and fitted out with deck formwork and edge railings in order to minimise the time spent working over the railway tracks.

Bob Pape, East Sussex County Council’s Link Road project manager, said: “We are delighted with the progress of this work which marks a major step forward for the project. I would like to thank everyone involved for their hard work.”

Work to complete the bridge will continue through August and September.

The 3.5-mile Link Road, which is on course to open in May 2015, will bring major economic benefits to Bexhill and Hastings including 2,000 new homes, 3,000 new jobs and more than £1 billion of economic benefits.