Why a new pedestrian bridge has been built on Stray in Harrogate
Such are the scale of preparations for the launch in Harrogate of the UCI Road World Championships on Saturday, September 21, organisers have even built a bridge for cycling fans and residents to get across a key road.
The pedestrian bridge has been erected over West Park across to the Fan Zone at the Stray so that visitors can leave the area without disrupting the finishing line of the daily races over the nine days one of the world's biggest sporting tournaments is hosted by the town.
Talking this morning to the Harrogate Advertiser, the chief executive of organisers Yorkshire 2019 said the new bridge is part of helping residents, the same way as leaving major road closures until the launch day itself was.
Andy Hindley said: "We've built the pedestrian bridge near the Prince of Wales roundabout so that people can get in and out of the Fan Zone without stopping the races.
"The whole thing has been a balancing act. We could have shut roads in Harrogate town centre earlier. It would have helped us.
"But we didn't want to cause any more hassle for residents than we had to."
The UCI Road World Championship runs from Saturday, September 21 to Sunday, September 29.
Every race ends on the Harrogate town centre circuit with the elite cyclists competing in the big races on the final weekend which is expected to attract the most numbers of visitors.