THE iconic £600 million Mersey Gateway will be constructed by world class engineers who have already built 30 bridges all over the world.

The Merseylink consortium, which includes contractors Kier, Samsung, and FCC, has won a £2 billion contract to design, build, finance and operate the six-lane toll bridge for the next 30 years.

They have saved ‘tens of millions of pounds’ by developing a concrete deck for the main bridge rather than steel, which means the base can now be built on site.

Construction will start in January, and will take three-and-a-half years, opening in 2017.

Steve Nicholson, Mersey Gateway project director, said: “The quality of all the bids has been of a very high standard and each one satisfied our challenging requirements.

“Price was a key factor with Merseylink winning. This came in under budget.

“We wanted to make sure that the community benefited from this opportunity. Merseylink was very sensitive to this and demonstrated local awareness and knowledge.”