The Gaol Ferry Bridge has re-opened: What do locals think?
The Gaol Ferry Bridge is a major walkway linking Southville with Bristol’s city centre. The bridge across the Avon Cut to Spike Island closed in August last year for repairs which were initially down to take between six to nine months. However, due to the poor state of the steel work, the project has taken longer than expected, and impacted local businesses. But last weekend saw the long anticipated re-opening of the bridge.
Transcript
00:00 For the past year, pedestrians have not been able to use the Goule Ferry Bridge due to
00:05 restoration works, but now the Goule Ferry Bridge is officially reopened.
00:12 The Goule Ferry Bridge is a major walkway linking Southville with Bristol's city centre.
00:18 The bridge across the Avon Cut to Spike Island closed in August of last year for repairs
00:23 which were initially down to take between six to nine months.
00:28 However, due to the poor state of the steel work, the project had taken longer than expected
00:34 and impacted local businesses.
00:36 But last weekend saw the long-anticipated reopening of the bridge.
00:41 So I am here literally standing on the bridge and it seems that the general vibe is people
00:45 are very happy to have the bridge reopened.
00:49 Let's chat to locals to find out their reaction to the bridge's reopening.
00:52 Well, I'm very excited because I use this route to go into town all the time.
00:56 It's a circuitous route, which isn't as fun as this one.
00:59 I really love it and it gets you, I think it's the quickest way onto Prince Street anyway.
01:03 So now I just love it and I can get straight to the centre and get another bus if I'm going
01:06 somewhere else.
01:07 Yeah.
01:08 Well, I live in Bedminster, so I used to walk down East Street, go across Bedminster Bridge
01:12 and then either go, because everything's been red-clad bridge as well as being shut and
01:16 we had to leave a trail of breadcrumbs this morning to remember it.
01:19 Yeah.
01:20 So, and then I used to go perhaps by the, I can't remember what the pub's called, and
01:25 then cross over there and that way or just go straight down Redcliffe.
01:29 I mean, but anyways, just not as good as this one.
01:32 Yeah.
01:33 Bristol's Mayor Marvin Rees revealed in his blog that the Spark Evans Bridge, linking
01:39 Spark Evans Park and the paintwork, will be next to close for repairs as part of the programme
01:46 of work on seven bridges, which also include Vauxhall Bridge, Langton Street Bridge, also
01:52 known as the Banana Bridge, the twin bridges of Bedminster Bridge and Bath Bridge.
02:00 Last month, we chatted to locals about the impact of the closure of the bridge.
02:04 Let's find out what they said.
02:05 Yes.
02:06 Normally, it would only take me like 10 minutes to get to work and now it's more like 20,
02:11 25 and I can't just like, Wapping Wharf is like, used to be really close where me and
02:17 my friend used to meet quite often and now it's like not an easy just pop across the
02:22 bridge.
02:23 It's like you have to.
02:24 Yeah, it's a pain.
02:26 It definitely did when I was working in town.
02:28 It's it's annoying.
02:29 It basically doubles the time it takes to get into town.
02:34 But I it does mean that I actually spend more time in Bedminster and I work a pub in Bedminster
02:42 and it's actually improved business because all the locals are actually sticking around
02:47 as opposed to going out into town onto King Street, which, you know, makes it fun for
02:53 us.
02:54 But yeah.
02:55 Only time will tell the impact of the other bridges closures.
02:58 But for now, locals can finally enjoy using the Gold Ferry Bridge once again.
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