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The city council is to authorise the extra money is spent on works to replace bearings at Nene Bridge, which carries the Frank Perkins Parkway over the River Nene and railway line.

Works to six of the eight piers were completed between May 2018 and August 2019, but the council said costs have escalated above the planned £5.1 million budget.

This was due to the “original method planned to provide access to the four piers located within the River Nene proving to be unsuitable during the project”.

An alternative method to complete the works ended up significantly increasing the cost of the project, although it avoided any delays, the council said.

Works will now continue on replacing the final two piers.

The bridge, which is near the Embankment, is a major traffic route but also provides a route for pedestrians and cyclists to go between the north and south of the city.

Bridge bearings are designed to transfer the loads between the main structure and its supporting features.

The council said its original plan was for its Highways partner Skanska to create a “piled platform” in the river bed to carry out the works, but that it later realised the size of platform required would have been “far greater than originally envisaged”.

This would have increased the cost and time of the project and would have taken up space in the River Nene which would have impeded the flow of water if there was a flood,

Instead, an alternative scheme was designed which saw access to the bearings come from the river.

The works carried out by Skanska were expected to take 18 months to complete, with overnight road closures put in place during this period.

In January 2019, the council said the project remained on time.

The bridge was first constructed by the Peterborough Development Corporation in 1984.

Peterborough road bridge work on schedule

Peterborough bridge repair works £1.6m over budget