EXTENSIVE work to a treasured Oxford bridge which has disrupted motorists and cost £500,000 is drawing to a close.

An engineering team has worked day and night to repair Folly Bridge after work to replace cracked limestone bricks begun on September 4.

The Grade II listed bridge carries 15,000 motorists on Abingdon Road every day but they have been disrupted since one lane was shut for engineers to carry out work on September 20.

Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for environment Councillor Yvonne Constance said: “I think the engineers must be incredibly pleased with the results. It has been an incredibly complicated piece of work.”

The council has been working on the project for 18 months but it was delayed until September because of bats roosting in cracks in the bridge.

Overnight resurfacing works which have closed the road over the bridge finish on Saturday.

Further work which does not require access from the road will finish next month.

Mrs Constance added: “With the traffic management and inconvenience to Oxford residents I knew it was a major project. We need to say thank you (to residents). It’s nearly done and it’s very good.”

Replacing cracked bricks – which had been split apart by rainwater dripping through Abingdon Road – with durable Bath stone should mean the council will not need to undertake work on the same scale for decade.

Senior project manager Philip Raven said the work to the bridge, which was built in 1820, had been the ‘most complicated’ of his 20-year career.