Newport's River Usk Bridge was honoured by two prestigious organisations. The recently opened bridge, constructed by Morgan Vinci CJV, scooped one of four coveted awards at the recent annual Structural Steel Design Awards 2005 and was praised in a leading Environment Agency report for its excellent environmental record.

The panel of judges in the Structural Steel Design Awards 2005 described the £55m project - a joint venture between Midlands-based Morgan Est plc and Vinci Construction Grands Projets as "the best in British bridge engineering".

The scheme is the largest local Private Finance Initiative scheme in Wales. The judges also praised its "elegant design, high-quality fabrication and innovative construction".

The Environment Agency's annual Spotlight report focuses on the environmental performance of businesses across England and Wales, and highlighted the project as a case study on good environmental practice.

The report said: "The construction company worked closely with us to maximise the use of secondary aggregates and recycled materials. As a result almost 97 per cent of the 464,000 tonnes of aggregate required was local, recycled aggregate. Local people benefited from less quarrying, 50,000 fewer vehicle movements and reduced waste."

It isn't the first time that Morgan Vinci has won praise for the scheme. The project also scooped a national Green Apple Award in 2003.

The single-span, inclined parabolic arch River Usk Bridge forms the centrepiece of the Newport Southern Distributor Road PFI project, which involved the dualling of a 9.5km stretch of urban carriageway required to ease chronic traffic congestion through Newport and provide access to areas for development.

Part of the project's complexity is that work in the river had to be kept to a minimum, in part due to the huge tidal range of the Usk and also to protect the shad, a rare migratory fish.