Work to be carried out on Frankwell footbridge in Shrewsbury

Riverside Gardens with Frankwell footbridge in the background

Work is to be carried out over five weekdays, starting on Friday 5 June [2026], to improve Frankwell footbridge in Shrewsbury, ahead of the construction of the new landing/stairway area into the new Riverside Gardens park.

The work – which is likely to be noisy – will be carried out on the Smithfield Road side of the bridge, near to the sloping ramp down to street level. The work is taking place between 8am and 5.30pm each day  and the bridge will remain  fully open during the work. The bridge is safe but the contractor is advising people to pass quickly over it during the work.

The first three days involve shot blasting resulting in noise between 110-120 decibels. The final two days are for surface preparation for welding with slightly reduced noise levels of 90 – 100 decibels.

A wooden scaffold enclosure designed to eliminate dust will also eliminate some of the noise but those levels appear similar to a loud concert or car horn, and the reduced levels are similar to a noisy restaurant / air conditioning unit.

Scaffolding and the the sloping ramp at the Smithfield Road side of the bridge

Rob Wilson, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for transport and regeneration, said:

“We thank residents and businesses within the vicinity, and people using the footbridge, for their understanding while this work is carried out, and apologise for any disruption. This necessary work ensures that the wider area is kept well maintained and there are limited disruptions once Riverside Gardens is open to the public.”

The work is being carried out by a sub-contractor of Morgan Sindell who are constructing Riverside Gardens.