It began as a good idea by a small but determined group of York residents. They asked: Wouldn't an environmentally-friendly and architecturally-exciting new bridge over the River Ouse be an achievement fitting for a new Millennium - as well as a very convenient crossing for cyclists and pedestrians?

The residents launched the York Millennium Bridge Forum and in early 1996, they launched a competition, backed by the Evening Press, for people to design a new river crossing. The competition was a success.

Then City of York Council grasped the nettle and decided, on behalf of the people of York, to submit an application to the Millennium Commission for £4 million of lottery money towards a scheme for a bridge, riverside improvements and a network of cycle paths into York.

The scheme then went through a long and tortuous race, rather like the Olympic hurdles, which still has some distance to run - with many an opportunity to trip up along the way.

The bridge cleared one key hurdle when the commission long-listed the scheme ... but only after trimming it down to a £1.9 million bid just for the bridge and riverside improvements. Forty-six firms presented outline bridge proposals, and these were then trimmed to a shortlist of seven. A charitable company, the York Millennium Bridge Trust, was formed to run the project, with heavyweight involvement from individuals such as Sir Donald Barron, former chairman of the Midland Bank.

In early 1998, the bridge scheme could have collapsed when Liberal Democrats proposed that the council should withdraw its backing from the project to reduce a large impending council tax rise, but the amendment was defeated.

More hurdles were cleared when major additional funding was promised by big York companies such as insurance giant CGU and when planning permission was granted by the council for a bold and gleaming bridge that many felt would grace the riverscape and become a tourist attraction in its own right.

Preparatory work finally started last June on the banks of the Ouse, with piling starting in July, followed by construction of supporting piers. Rumours started last autumn that the fabrication of the steel bridge in Italy had hit problems which could delay the scheme. The rumours were denied at the time, but it was confirmed this week that the original Italian firm which had been expected to fabricate the structure would no longer do so due to contractual difficulties.

The work has now gone to a Humberside firm, but the switch of firms appears likely to delay completion by a few weeks to late summer.

The trust appears confident the bridge will still be open and ready for use long before the end of Millennium year. But ... a horribly wet spring and summer, causing repeated flooding of the banks of the Ouse, might still place one more hurdle in the way of York and its long-awaited bridge.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.