Bingley's canal is ready for the tourist season after being refilled with almost 200,000 gallons of water.

A section of the Leeds/Liverpool canal at Ferncliffe Road was drained in November last year to allow extensive works on the town's main junction of the £47.9 million relief road.

About 180,000 gallons of water were pumped out and the fish were momentarily stunned with electrodes and relocated in other parts of the canal.

Amec, the company building the three-mile road from Crossflatts to the Bankfield Hotel at Nab Wood, worked around the clock to install a concrete lining to strengthen the base of the canal in preparation for a new bridge.

And yesterday the canal and the towpath between Three-Rise Locks and Ferncliffe Road were re-opened - bang on schedule.

Carley Scott, Amec's community liaison manager, said the team was delighted with the results. "This has been a major achievement for Amec and we're pleased to see the canal open again in time for the tourist season," she said.

Highways Agency project manager Peter Scally said despite bad weather and other complications Amec was ready to re-open the canal on time.

Alan Bates, British Waterways' canal manager, said he was impressed with the contractor's progress. "They've achieved such a lot in a very tight time-scale. They definitely know how to meet a challenge," he said.

The new £300,000 bridge will span the canal and the bypass.

The Ferncliffe Road bridge will be demolished in autumn next year when the canal will close again and the completed bridge will be open to traffic in June 2003.

The road is one of Yorkshire's most technically challenging road projects with a multi-million pound bridge spanning the River Aire. It will be finished by autumn 2003.