MARLOW Bridge will be shut for up to three weeks as vital repairs are carried out on the Grade One listed structure.

Closure of the vital link across The Thames is expected to cause traffic chaos and hit businesses hard.

Motorists will be forced to enter the town from the already congested Marlow By-Pass/Little Marlow Road junction.

Work is not expected to start until January and Buckinghamshire County Council, who own the bridge, promise to keep disruption to a minimum.

A foot ferry could be set up if walkways on the bridge are shut .

A spokesman for the county council said: "We will endeavour to do all we can to stop traffic disruption by working outside of peak flows. Unfortunately due to the nature of the work there will be some disruption and we would ask people in the area to be patient."

The council said they would try to keep the bridge open to pedestrians but said it was too early to tell if this was possible.

The repairs will cost the county more than £100,000, a sizeable chunk of the council's annual budget of £180,000 for bridge repairs. Funding is being sought from the Government but has yet to be confirmed.

The Marlow Society alerted the council to the problem in April. They said with rotting timbers, eroded brick work, flaking paint and weeds growing through it, the landmark structure was an embarrassment to the town.

The issue came under the spotlight at a Marlow Chamber of Trade and Commerce meeting on Monday.

Colin Berks, chairman of the chamber, said: "This is going to be a considerable inconvenience to businesses and people."

Andrew Robson, senior bridge engineer for the county council, said: "Over the years there have been a number of incidents on the bridge where vehicles have collided with and bent the vertical hangers which support the road deck from the suspension chains."