Bristol Harbourside road reopens after three years
Cumberland Road shut when part of the wall along the river fell into the water
A road along the Bristol Harbourside is back open today after three years of work to make it safe.
Cumberland Road was forced to shut in 2020 when 80m of wall fell into the river and it's been at least partially shut ever since.
It has reopened in full today (4 September) however, walking and cycling route the Chocolate Path, which runs alongside the road, will remain shut until Friday (8 September) because of delays to final fencing work and painting.
Ian Davies, Contracts Manager at Griffiths, explained: “The reasoning behind the slip is a combination of our own short term resource availability and our fencing sub-contractors along with the weather of late as they have not been able to carry out the actual painting of the fencing."
Councillor Don Alexander, cabinet member for transport, said: "This has been a major engineering project that has presented us with a number of challenges along the way.
"I know many people are looking forward to using the Chocolate Path again and will be able to do so again on 8 September, when we will also be reopening Gaol Ferry Bridge at 5pm.
“It will be fantastic to have both these popular routes in use again and to see people walking and cycling over them once more.
"It shows our continued investment in our harbourside infrastructure and our determination to get complex projects done."
Cumberland Road now features a new bus gate (traffic filter) meaning only buses, taxis, cycles, e-scooters and emergency vehicles can travel into the city centre.
The bus gate has been installed to the east of Gas Ferry Road, so cars can travel eastbound on Cumberland Road up to this point, which also means that the SS Great Britain can still be accessed from both directions.
Any unauthorised vehicle that passes through the bus gate will receive a fine.
All vehicles will still be able to drive westbound along Cumberland Road.