Pulrose Bridge is closed to pedestrians for a period of about two weeks.

Access was cut off entirely for foot passengers on Monday to enable Manx Utilities, Manx Telecom and their specialist contractors to carry on with their work.

While this closure is in place there is a lit, signed diversion route via Groves Road/the NSC footbridge and the Bowl car park. Access for pedestrians into the Bowl or Riverside Trading Estate from Peel Road is unaffected, whilst pedestrian traffic between the Pulrose estate and the Middle River Industrial Estate is via the diversionary route.

In a statement, the Department of Infrastructure said: ’The main focus of activity at the site at present is the preparation of the many utility feeds that will be carried by the new bridge including water, telecoms and electrical links.

’The most complex element of this is renewing and maintaining the electrical services that link Pulrose Power Station with the rest of the island and beyond. A significant effort is going into moving live connections from the old infrastructure into the new. Our colleagues at Manx Utilities have completed a significant portion of this transition, but will soon reach the point where to carry on with this work while being able to safeguard pedestrians using the footpath across the bridge is impractical.’

The footpath will reopen in conjunction with the completion of the wider works.

Manx Telecom confirmed the work saying that their work will take place between October 8 and October 21.

As a result, telecoms users in the area are likely to experience intermittent disruption to their services while the work is being carried out.

In most cases this will be a loss of service for landline calls and broadband for around 10 minutes in the evening. However, in some instances where cables need to be moved, there will be a longer period of disruption from between three and six hours overnight.

A full schedule of anticipated works and updates can be found on the Manx Telecom website at manxtelecom.com/pulrosebridge.