This time though it was done to a tight deadline as the road over Compasses Bridge is an important entrance to Dunsfold Park Aerodrome and business complex.
Successfully realigned
The new entrance road over the bridge was successfully realigned over the Easter weekend, completing phase one of the Trust's Compasses programme, with volunteers and contractors meeting a tight deadline to get the important new canal bridge opened to traffic.
The bridge is replacing an ageing concrete causeway which blocked the waterway, shown in the picture taken in January this year, that will be demolished in Phase two that will include restoration of the canal and landscaping, that is scheduled to start in mid April.
Critical date
Chartered civil engineer Tony Ford, a Trust Director, who is in charge of the project, explained:
"Our volunteers and visiting groups worked tirelessly to achieve the critical date for the road changeover. It needed to happen on time to mesh with the aerodrome's busy events schedule."
Volunteers, among them specialists from the Waterway Recovery Group, worked with contractors CJ Thorne on the realignment and surfacing, moving the road off the 1930s causeway.
Completing
The volunteers are now cladding the bridge's sides and training walls in bricks and completing the paving on the bridge surface.
The Trust plans to officially open the new bridge and restored canal section on Sunday, October 2nd, and it will be one of the locations for celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Wey & Arun Canal from Pallingham in West Sussex to Shalford in Surrey.