Bridge of sighs takes shape after two years of delays

Based on a concept by architects McDowell and Benedetti, who built the award-winning Castleford Bridge over the River Aire, the £7m structure will be the first of its kind in the UK to allow people to remain on it as it swings.

And having already been described by one resident as looking like “Darth Vadar’s right arm”, the bridge is adding a futuristic look to the ancient waterway as it takes shape beneath the hulking old mills and factories and former trawler Arctic Corsair nestling on the river bank.

It was originally scheduled to open in 2010, but the Homes and Communities Agency, which is providing the bulk of the funding, now expects it to carry its first passengers in September.

The bridge will feature eye-catching lighting displays and open to the sound of a waterfall. It is intended to look like a whale, with a fin on top and another two at the very tip that will enclose gates that shut when it is about to move.

It had been intended to link to a £100m development known as The Boom, but that project fell victim to funding cuts.