THE cost of a new footbridge over Jumble Lane crossing has gone up by £600,000 because of an engineering problem, it was revealed this week.

The idea to shut the town centre level crossing and replace it with a pedestrian bridge was mooted three years ago when the town centre revamp was revealed.

Network Rail had also expressed concerns about the crossing being dangerous and ‘high risk’ with numerous incidents reported of cars running red lights and pedestrians jumping the barriers.

It was initially thought the Market Gate Bridge would cost £5m, with Network Rail contributing £2m towards that cost.

But council papers show the cost has gone up to £5.6m - an increase of 12 per cent.

Council leader Sir Steve Houghton said this was because of an engineering issue with the angle of the bridge.

He said: “The costs have gone up because the bridge has had to be realigned across the junction in a different way to what we first anticipated.

“It’s still going to be the same bridge, but we’ve had to change the angle of it and the points at which it crosses the crossing, the space it leaves for trains, etc.

“It was always going to go over the level crossing but it will run from the Market Gate car park to the bottom of the bus station.”

He insisted it was an engineering problem, and was not an over-run.

He added: “It is within the scope of what we can afford.”

The new bridge will act as a ‘gateway’ into the town centre, taking people from the Market Gate car park into the heart of the new town centre scheme, meaning the level crossing will be closed to vehicles and pedestrians for good.

The papers show consideration was given to keeping the crossing open but this was not recommended as it would have a detrimental impact on the town centre redevelopment plans. Another alternative was to allow Network Rail to build a bridge but the council believes a ‘standard no-frills pedestrian bridge’ would not be in keeping with the vision for the town centre.

The bridge will be designed with a wide deck to make sure it can take a large number of people, such as on match days to improve the flow of people going to and from Oakwell.

It will feature two distinctive funicular lifts at each end which will carry those unable to use steps at a diagonal angle in line with the adjacent steps.

A new service access route for the The Glass Works and the markets will be created off Lambra Road so vehicles no longer have to cross Jumble Lane to get into the Metropolitan Centre.

The bridge itself will be made off-site and assembled over the crossing.

It is due to be in place by November next year.

Network Rail has agreed to fund the project by up to £2m, but only if the crossing is closed by March 31 next year.

From April, a temporary footbridge will be put in place to allow the closure and to provide safe access over the railway line during the construction of the permanent bridge.