The main link road between Windsor and Datchet will be closed for two weeks - after parts of the Victoria Bridge were found to have deteriorated badly.

The faults were discovered during a routine inspection of the bridge in King Edward VII Avenue which revealed water had been seeping into the concrete.

Repair work has been timed for the start of the summer holiday to minimise disruption.

But the closure will cause serious delays to people who travel between Windsor town centre and Datchet, Horton or Wraysbury.

Traffic will be diverted down the A308 Albert Road and Datchet Road - pedestrians will still be able to cross Victoria Bridge.

The road closure is expected to last from Monday, July 23 until Friday, August 3.

Cllr Phill Bicknell, cabinet member for highways, transport and Windsor, said: “We have more than 200 bridges to maintain on our 384-mile highway network and repairs and preventative work like this are essential to keeping the borough’s roads in a good condition.

“The area in need of repair runs right through the centre of this bridge so the only way to do this work safely is to completely close the crossing to vehicles.

“I would ask for people’s patience as we undertake this essential maintenance which will help prolong the life of the structure and reduce the risk of more costly repairs in the future.”

The work forms part of the council’s £7.7m investment into maintaining and improvement the borough’s highway network in 2018/19.

During the two-week closure the surface of the bridge will be removed. The structure will then be covered with a special waterproof coating to protect it from further damage in the future before a new road surface is laid on the bridge and adjoining road.

The original cast-iron Victoria Bridge, built in 1851, was damaged by tanks during the Second World War and replaced by a temporary bridge before being rebuilt in its current form in 1966.

Its name comes from Queen Victoria and the next crossing south along the Thames is named Albert Bridge after her husband.

The full diversion route can be viewed online here: https://roadworks.org/?tmi=4494402