Italian summer holidays are partly to blame for delays to final works on the Tyne Pedestrian and Cycle Tunnel.
The historic crossing under the river, between Jarrow and Howdon, officially opened last week (Wednesday, August 7) after years of delays and spiralling costs.
Bosses on the project decided 'rather than keep the public waiting' they would push ahead and start welcoming the public once more, despite work on the new 'inclined lifts' still awaiting completion.
Instead, the public have been told to use existing vertical lifts, although they have also been warned this could cause queues as they can only hold two or three people with bicycles at a time.
"The work is complete, there's just the [inclined] lift left to finish, but it's there and installed and working," said project manager Stuart Turnbull.
"But the Italian company we're using are having trouble with the final testing and unfortunately August is a total close down for them."
Work on the inclined lifts is expected to be finished by the end of September and will run alongside the original wooden-tread Waygood-Otis escalators, which were the longest in the world at the time of the tunnel's opening as the North East's contribution to the 1951 Festival of Britain.
The pedestrian tunnel closed in May 2013 for 'minor repairs' and other works which were expected to be completed by 2015.
The original refurbishment budget was £6.9million but has now risen to £16.2million - and could rise higher still before work is completely finished.
