A large section of a major Bradford road was closed throughout the weekend while a footbridge was demolished.

The bridge over Manchester Road was brought down on Saturday afternoon to make way for a new bridge, paid for by Lottery funding, which will be used by both walkers and cyclists.

The scheme to replace the bridge, near Newby Primary School, is part of national project by charity Sustrans, which is using a £50 million grant from the Big Lottery Fund to provide new routes for everyday walking and cycling across the country.

Teams spent Saturday preparing the site by placing tyres and rubble underneath the bridge to protect the ground in case anything fell during the demolition.

Highways engineer James Williams, a delegated project manager, said the teams had been at the site from early in the morning to close the road and set up diversions.

He said: “The demolition contractors have been preparing the site and basically making sure everything is safe prior to the demolition of the bridge.

“We have been running a little bit behind schedule but we are confident of hitting the deadline of finishing by Sunday evening.

“We are looking to get it down today, with Sunday as back up.”

The road was closed between its junction with St Stephen’s Road and the Ripley Street junction.

Nearby resident Abdul Ghani, 40, of Roxby Street, Little Horton, was watching the demolition take place.

He said he hoped the new bridge would create a good impression for the area.

He said: “Also there’s a lot of obesity in the Bradford area and when they see this bridge available, hopefully it will get people out of the house and start walking about. Aesthetically, hopefully the appearance will help Manchester Road. They are meant to be growing trees and it should improve access because at the moment it can be a bit of a nightmare for families – you see little kids running across the road and it can be an accident waiting to happen, so hopefully the bridge will help improve safety.”

Israr Butt, owner of Holme Top Post Office, in Manchester Road, said: “In a sense if they are going to spend that kind of money then hopefully it will brighten up the road, but I’m not a big fan of these projects, I think it’s a bit of a waste of money personally.”