The proposed bridge would be a link connecting the Mabey Bridge housing site off Station Road to Wyebank Road in Sedbury.
It is hoped that the bridge would not only bring relief to the badly polluted section of the A48 but will provide a safer crossing point for the Wyedean Comprehensive School pupils.
The footbridge
would use the Chepstow to Tintern shared use path to bypass the centre of town and the A48. It is thought to be of benefit to locals as well as tourists walking and cycling the Wye routes.
Jennifer Peregrine from www.
wyecycle.co.uk said: "The idea originated from a need to connect the paths either side of the river and the position fell naturally into place coincidentally at the end of the concourse on the outline plans for the Mabey housing development."
Nik and Jennifer Peregrine are Transport Coordinators for Transition Chepstow and have been working to improve integrated transport in the Chepstow area for the last seven years.
"We would hope that the new Mabey development could include a link footbridge over the River Wye so that Wyedean School connects with the pedestrian/ cycle path link over the railway to join the Wales Coastal Path, this in turn would benefit from being upgraded to a shared use path.
"This transport proposal would enable the linking of all the communities and schools from Caldicot through Chepstow and out into the Wye Valley, and would benefit thousands of people in the future."
There are many unresolved transport issues in Chepstow and in order to justify the number of new developments in the planning stage we feel it important to integrate more cost effective and sustainable transport links that are suitable for the next generation."
The couple contacted Alan Hayward who worked on the original drawings for the bridge link in Tintern, and who subsequently produced the plans and drawings that were presented to Monmouthshire County Council at a recent Air Quality Steering Group Meeting.
The group is also now in discussions with Andrew Leitch, project manager for the Mabey Bridge Development Site (Leitch Consulting Ltd) to encourage the developers to include the bridge in their plans.