At the same time as the railway was being rebuilt, the highways authority (Cyngor Gwynedd Council) took the opportunity to widen and strengthen the weak bridge carrying the A4085 over the railway adjacent to Betws Garmon Church (OB53). Preparation for this substantial job was in evidence in late October 2001, with portable buildings installed on the short stretch of trackbed between UB52 and OB53, and initial clearance of vegetation.

By November 11th 2001, progress had been made with undergrowth clearance of the trackbed on the southern (Bryn Gloch) side of the bridge, and a scaffold bridge had been installed for pedestrians to use while the bridge works were carried out; traffic control was in operation, with removal of the old roadside walls underway. The scaffold bridge allowed a view of the southern face of OB53, largely invisible for many years.

By November 25th significant progress had been made with building up the foundations for the widened roadway on the northern face of the eastern abutment of OB53; also, new gabion reinforcement was in evidence on the southern face of the western abutment (Waunfawr end from the road's point of view). The work was carried out by the Civil Engineering department of Cyngor Gwynedd Council (former occupant of the Dinas Station site).

The two pictures below show the site on December 8th, both looking towards Waunfawr. The left-hand one shows the southern ramp, with extra width being added to the road on the right. The right-hand view shows the northern ramp, with the concrete core of part of the new parapet in place. The portable buildings visible to the right are on the trackbed, with UB52, UB51 and Betws Garmon station building visible beyond.

By February 10th 2002, the bridge opening was occupied by scaffolding, and piling and shuttering were in place for the casting of the extended abutments to pass under the widened road on the Waunfawr side of the bridge.

The view below (taken a fortnight later) shows the extended abutments from above, where they would later be covered by the road surface of the widened bridge. Comparison of the positions of the ends of the western abutment (top left) and the eastern one (far right) gives an idea of the skew of the road relative to the railway at OB53.

By the time the above picture was taken, scaffolding had been removed from within the original opening of the bridge, and good progress was being made with the new wing walls on the widened side of the bridge, which were built to match the existing style, in outward appearance at least.

The picture below (Jan Woods, WHLR Ltd) is looking through OB53 back towards Waunfawr on March 15th. The scaffolding in the foreground is part of the temporary pedestrian bridge, whereas the scaffolding in the background stands under the new road deck on the widened side of the bridge.

The bridge is seen below from the east a fortnight later. The inner concrete structure was nearing completion on this side, with shuttering in place for the new parapet, and outer cladding in progress. Even Betws Garmon is not immune from graffiti!

The view below (May 11th) shows the completed concrete structure of the new side of the bridge, which was being clad in riven slate to give a generally similar type of appearance to the original structure.

By April 6th the new deck on the Waunfawr side had been sealed and waterproofed.

In the following week, tarmac was laid on this side, and traffic was diverted across it. The scaffolding bridge was dismantled (leaving no separate pedestrian route), and the original deck of the bridge was removed, including the iron girders cast by De Winton of Caernarfon over 125 years earlier, exposing the stone abutments.

Towards the end of April, preparations were in hand to cast new headings on top of the original stone abutments, connecting the original structure with the new deck which will be cast above it. This had been done before the May Day Bank Holiday, and work was in progress on shuttering and reinforcement for the deck, together with progress on the walls on both road approaches on this side of the bridge.

The deck had been cast by May 18th, as seen below. This completed the internal structure of the bridge, leaving work in progress on casting the roadside walls on this side and remaking the roadway, followed by cladding of the concrete structure.

By the start of June the roadway had been laid across the new deck on the southern side, and was in use by traffic following temporary removal of the traffic lights, later reinstated to allow work on cladding the walls to proceed; what had been a narrow road bridge is now a very wide one, by the standards of the A4085. Final surfacing remained to be done, and cladding was continuing, following completion of the internal concrete roadside walls.

The original De Winton cast iron beams from the parapets have been restored (painted black, with the manufacturer's lettering picked out in white) and returned to the site. It was intended that both these previously structural components would be refitted as ornamental features of the completed bridge.

At the end of June the slate cladding of the road sides of the walls was complete, with blocks set vertically being added to the top in traditional style, to mask the concrete entirely. This had allowed the traffic control to be shortened to just the apex of the bridge. Final surfacing was done at the start of July, and the widened roadway came into full use, with the bridge looking practically complete from the road user's point of view.

Work was still proceeding on cladding the outer structure, including cladding of the new parts of the abutments alongside the railway. This was done in natural stone (as opposed to the riven slate used on the other surfaces), to give a match with the original stone abutments.

By late July the iron beam on the Waunfawr side was in place, and the concrete structure was fast disappearing within an outwardly traditional looking bridge; the stonework extends around the ends of the new abutments, which have been entirely hidden.

Cladding of the Waunfawr side was complete by August 10th (left-hand picture below). It will be noted that the design does not include any representation of the metal parapet structure of the original (see the "before" view on the right for comparison).

In the following week the scaffolding was moved round to the opposite side of the bridge, where cladding work continued.

By early September most of the cladding on the Bryn Gloch side was in place.

At the end of September the cladding had been completed apart from coping stones at the apex of the bridge on both sides of the road, the scaffolding had been removed, and the last of the Council's portable site buildings had been removed from the trackbed to the north of the bridge. It did not prove possible to create a suitable ledge for the second iron beam on this less visible side of the bridge, so it has not been fitted. It will be kept for some future use, or display. The apex coping stones, in the form of ridge tiles in a sympathetic shade of grey, finally appeared on both sides of the road in mid-November, with one remaining to be added in the picture below; the job was finished by the end of the month.

Persistent very heavy rain in late October and early November 2002 highlighted a need for further drainage work at OB53 to clear the heaviest accumulation of water the winter weather can provide; this must sometimes have been a wet spot in the old days too.

Gwynedd Civil Engineering were noted back on site on December 7th, undertaking some remedial finishing works (left). This was completed within the week, with the new abutment back behind cladding (right).

Some trackbed lowering was done through the bridge opening, and the OB53 drainage system was completed at the same time. This allows rainwater to drain properly into the river, via drains under the trackbed through the bridge. This work was done by Jones Bros, together with other finishing jobs in the vicinity, as one of the final tasks to complete their contracts in Spring 2003. They had started moving temporary buildings and plant into the area north of the bridge by April 12th. Significant excavation had been done by the 26th, and rebar cores for additional concrete components were being assembled on the trackbed north of the bridge. Roger Dick's picture below shows some of these in place ready for casting abutment supports on May 1st. The job was finished by mid-May, leaving ballasting and delivery of sleepers on the short stretch from UB51 through OB53 as the contractor's last task here.

Track was laid through OB53 on June 28th 2003, and proceeded across UB52 and UB51 later the same weekend.