NEWPORT Transporter Bridge is set to open for a final day next Saturday giving residents and tourists one last chance to enjoy the full bridge experience before it closes for renovation.

Newport City Council has approved plans for a £4 million visitors centre in a bid to safeguard the bridge's future.

The new refurbishment will include a café, toilets, shop and exhibition gallery, allowing the residents to see the social history of the bridge.

For those who can’t walk up the stairs, a visual experience will be made available.

Susan Herring, who is part of the Friends of Transporter Bridge group, believes the refurbishment will bring more tourism to the area and says it should be more accessible for those with disabilities.

She said: “It is much harder to climb down as the stairs are narrow, so I think a lift would be nice then it will be accessible to everyone.

“If you're allowed to go up there in a lift and get to the top to experience the feeling, the wind in your face, and everything you can see it will be much better and equal for everybody then.

“But Newport should make a big feature of it, something to bring the crowd to it and people to see it, you can ride on it, walk over it, it is well worth visiting.”

The Transporter Bridge is located on the River Usk in Pill and dates back to the 1900s.

It was made to connect the east of Newport to the west, and was first used by steelworker suppliers, workers and then later general traffic.

It has since become an important piece of history for residents of Pill and across Newport.

Bob Herring, who is part of the Friends of Newport Transporter bridge group, is proud of it is history and says it's importance to the community.

He said: “I think it is massively important to the community, it’s such an iconic building and it is something we should promote even further.

“It is something people not just from Newport, but all over the world come to see. The view is splendid, and it is something we need to promote more.”

It is one of six working transporter bridges left in the world from a total of 20 constructed and is one of two working bridges in the United Kingdom.

The iconic landmark is one of the oldest bridges in Britain and has since become a tourist attraction since its opening in 1906.

It is an important piece of history that the community values, and the Friends of Newport Transporter Bridge group has hosted many events there over the years for everybody to enjoy.

Many residents have shared their positive memories of the bridge, with the older generation reminiscing their experiences of the symbolic attraction on our Facebook page

Patricia O’Neill, a Newport resident, said: “When we were young kids we would crouch down by the gates and wait for the bump when it hit the stop.

“We tried not to fall backwards; it was happy memories of the 1940s.”

Michael Hillier added: "I used to hang underneath the gondola, while being transported across it and then letting go, to fall in the river below and swimming back again it was great fun.”

Saturday, July 16, is the last chance for residents and tourists to enjoy the full Transporter Bridge experience of both top, gondola and walkway before it closes for renovations.

The event is free to Pill residents between 10am and 12pm, with the price of £4 for adults and £3 children who are non-residents.