For hundreds of years Great Yarmouth was one of the most important fishing ports in Britain.
Every autumn its quaysides saw hundreds of drifters brave the North Sea before returning with boatloads of herring.
That industry, which reached its peak in the early 20th century, is now to be recalled in the name of the new bridge across the River Yare.
Herring Bridge received the most votes in an online poll held on five suggested titles for the town's £121m third river crossing.
The name was the favourite in both the in person vote and online poll winning with 2,710 votes overall.
Second place was Queen's Gate, with 869 votes, closely followed by Britannia Bridge, with 857 votes, and Yare Bridge, with 814 votes, with Kings Bridge in fifth place receiving 572 votes.
Councillor Graham Plant, Norfolk County Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport said: “I’m delighted the winning name is one which reflects the fantastic history of Great Yarmouth and I am confident the completion of this long-awaited new bridge and further planned investments will bring much prosperity to the town and our region, as the fishing industries of our past did before it.”
A naming competition held last autumn generated over 300 suggestions from the local community.
A naming committee comprising both county and district councillors and representatives from local community groups was then convened at the end of last year to review all suggestions put forward and produce the final shortlist.
READ MORE: Great Yarmouth bridge - Names that failed to make shortlist
In January 2023, five names were put to an online public vote with physical voting boxes also placed across the borough.
The third river crossing is described as "the crowning jewel" of over £200m investment in the town over the last three years.
The next milestones include the delivery of the two leaves for the main lifting bridge which are due to arrive in Great Yarmouth by barge in the next two weeks.
They will be moored in the river while final preparations for their installation later this month are put in place.
A further milestone is the arrival of a large floating crane that will be used to lift each of the bridge's leaves into position.
The installation process has been planned to take place over a 72-hour period from 8am on March 21, during which time this section of the river will be closed off to all vessels.
Notices to mariners for this river closure have been published.
All operations will be subject to suitable weather conditions that could impact on the timing of the delivery and lifting of the bridge leaves.
Each of the bridge leaves is 62 metres in length and 20 metres wide, weighing 700 tons when they are delivered.
A further 500 tons of special concrete required to complete the counterbalance weight will be added once they are installed.
During the installation, viewing areas will be established on either side of the river to allow interested members of the public to watch the work take place.
The bridge is expected to open by summer this year.
It will link the A47 at Harfrey’s roundabout to the port and the enterprise zone via South Denes Road on the other side of the River Yare.
Last month, work was halted when an unexploded device thought to be from the Second World War was discovered in the river bed close to the bridge’s main construction.
Following a four-day evacuation and emergency response the 250kg bomb was safely detonated without any loss of life or significant damage to the main construction.
However, some additional works to the quay wall will be required once a full investigation has taken place.
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