OFFICIALS behind a £117m bridge development say the project has hit another milestone after deck panels began arriving in the region.

Workers are preparing concrete sections for installation on the new Wear Crossing, in Sunderland.

The bridge, the first to be erected over the River Wear in more than 40 years, is due to open in 2018.

A watertight structure, known as a cofferdam, has already been built in the river to give contractors space to work as they oversee foundations for the bridge’s pylon, and crossing supports and decking are expected to be fitted in the summer.

To meet that timeframe, officials say concrete panels, each weighing between five and 18 tonnes, are now being delivered to the site every day.

They added more than 850 sections will be used on the project, with 670 earmarked for decking and another 185 for parapets on retaining walls on approach roads.

The concrete panels are due to be installed on deck girders in August, with bridge supports due to take shape in the coming weeks.

The bridge deck is being assembled on an embankment on the south side of the river, while work on the north side, to prepare banking for approach roads, is expected to start later this year.

Stephen McCaffrey, project director at FVB, a partnership set up between Belfast and Cambridgeshire-based Farrans Construction and Belgium’s Victor Buyck Steel Construction, said the scheme is moving on well.

He added: “A project of this size and nature, with a huge variety of different complexities, brings challenges, but we are very happy with progress.”