THE demolition and replacement of a bridge on a busy Hampshire motorway has been captured in time-lapse footage released by Highways England.

Romsey Road Bridge was demolished last year and a new bridge was lifted into place between Friday night and Saturday.

The M27 between junction 3 and 4 was closed to the public while the work took place.

As reported, the motorway was expected to be re-opened on Monday morning but the work was completed 36 hours ahead of schedule and the M27 re-opened to traffic on Saturday afternoon.

The work is part of a £19m project led by Highways England.

It comes after highway bosses found that Romsey Road Bridge had cracks in the concrete beams The new bridge weighs 1,069 tonnes – as much as 15 space shuttles - and was lifted into place using self-propelled modular transporters, which were remote-controlled, self-powered low-loader lorries.