A section of the Old Castletown Road at Santon will be closed for up to 17 weeks for bridge works.

Work to reconstruct the old Mwyllin-e-Quinney bridge across the Santon Burn began on Monday.

Old Castletown Road will be closed to vehicles from the Blackboards junction to a point 50m north east of the bridge until 6pm on November 24 at the latest.

The three-span, weight-restricted bridge deck - which spans the Santon Burn - is to be removed.

It will be replaced with a new three-span concrete bridge deck supported on steel beams.

The existing concrete bridge abutments and piers will be retained and extended to support the widened bridge deck.

The scheme includes the construction of new retaining walls to the adjacent road.

Work in and around the watercourse must be carried out between July and September to meet Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture guidance.

The contractor will install a temporary footbridge in order to maintain pedestrian access and a traffic diversion will be in place from the Old Castletown Road via Ballavale Road on to the A5 New Castletown Road.

Cyclists can use the temporary footbridge during the scheme, but are encouraged to dismount and push their bikes across.