A new cycle lane is being trialled over a Shropshire bridge as part of an initiative aimed at getting more people on their bikes.

Shropshire Council is to investigate the impact of installing cycle lanes on the English Bridge in Shrewsbury as part of its Cycle Shrewsbury campaign.

The trial lane which leads over the bridge out of town was set up yesterday and will be in place until Friday.

It has involved coning off one lane of traffic out of town for a small length along the bridge. Cyclists continue to have access to both lanes and bus passengers will still be able to use the bus stop. Council officials said they believed the trial would have minimal impact on traffic queues.

Martin Taylor-Smith, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for strategic planning and transport, said: “As part of our Cycle Shrewsbury campaign we are doing lots of positive work to encourage cycling into the town centre, improve safety for cyclists and raise the profile of cycling.

“This trial will help us see whether cycle lanes along this route are feasible.

“Although our research shows that this essential trial will have little impact on traffic queues, we’d like to apologise in advance for any disruption this may cause.”

If the trial proves to be a success, a future scheme would have advisory cycle lanes on both sides of the road and single traffic lanes into and out of town.