Mr Fletcher added that the football ground was currently “cut off” from the rest of Shepton Mallet.

“You wouldn’t let a kid cross the road on their skateboard alone,” he said.

“With this new bridge you can cross safely.”

On Tuesday, the bridge was lifted over the road on a crane.

“It’s exactly at the point where the section of the Strawberry Line runs out of Shepton and towards Wells,” Mr Fletcher said.

“We’ve got two sections working towards each other.”

The Strawberry Line will eventually form part of the larger Somerset Circle, a 76-mile traffic-free circuit which aims to link the north Somerset coast with Bristol, Bath, the Mendip Hills and Cheddar.

It takes its name from a section of the Great Western Railway, which was famous for transporting strawberries and dairy produce to markets in London.

The bridge will be open to the public in November.