Gateshead's £22m blinking footbridge across the River Tyne opens to the public this week, three years and four months after joint venture contractor Harbour & General/Volker Stevin started work. In the unique design by Wilkinson Eyre Architects and civil engineer Gifford & Partners, the whole structure moves like an eyelid, lifting the pedestrian deck and lowering the supporting arch to allow ships to pass below. The bridge will link Gateshead's Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts and its Music Centre, both currently under construction, with Newcastle's regenerated quayside.